Full Year 2019 Standard Chartered PLC Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Martin Leitgeb - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division - Analyst : Martin Leitgeb from Goldman Sachs. If I may, I might have 3, please. And the first one, specifically on the disruption caused by the virus outbreak. Would you be able to share a little bit how you're thinking about potential P&L impact in the first half this year, if the virus were to behave as expected and if it might recede in Asia in the coming months since it would be more a temporary impact? How would we think about P&L impact in terms of both revenues and ECL? And then tied to that, in terms of your revenue guidance for 2020. It seems like your revenue challenges are a little bit more constructive compared to some of your international and global peers. And I was just wondering what is driving that? Is embedded in that still some benefit from the legal entity restructuring optimization which you announced, I think, last year? Or is there specific medium (inaudible) interest rate assumption underlying that? Or just the underlying business performing very well is giving you the comfort for still positive revenue growth at this stage? And finally, in terms of capital return. Your very clear commitment to stay well within that 13% to 14% range rather than [wedge] towards (inaudible). And if we just look at your profitability trend last year and also in terms of what your guidance implies, it would seem that you will continue to build capital in the first half. And how frequently are you going to assess the scope for potential buyback as opposed to where you are in terms of this capital target range?

Question: Martin Leitgeb - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division - Analyst : And also in terms of revenue outlook, in terms of what makes you more positive in terms of the revenue outlook compared to some of the peers, and if there's still any benefit of the EU entity restructuring to come through so the $200 million to $300 million funding benefit? Is it that part of the reason why you might be more constructive? Or it just that it comes to more broader growth, you're...?