Standard Chartered PLC Q3 2020 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 : And congratulations to the results and the strong trend this morning. 2 questions from my side. And the first one is on how should we think about revenue progression from here. And, I guess, there's really 2 elements to that. So number one, NII and NIM. And it seems like if I read the slide right, REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 29, 2020 / 7:30AM, STAN.L - Q3 2020 Standard Chartered PLC Earnings Call that you're essentially guiding that NIM might be a little be bit lower, but given the expectation of loan growth that we should be at or past the point of NII inflection. How should we think -- is that correct? And in terms of other income, in particular, Financial Markets income, which some to higher volatility this year, would you expect that equally to trend somewhat higher in 2021 compared to 2020? The point I'm trying to get is whether we should overall see a slight increase or stabilization of revenues in 2021 compared to 2020? Or whether there's any other elements, which would prevent that next year? And the second question on capital return and Standard Chartered was in a unique position of being in the middle of a buyback when the dividend ban came earlier this year. And then just given what happened since sort the completion of the disposal of Permata, and the capital position now compared to your target range, how likely is that, from your perspective, that you could do a buyback potentially next year from your discussion with the regulators? Is buyback, and then the broader form of capital returns, something which, depending on outlook, in February is possible? And would you expect international U.K. banks to be treated differently to U.K. domestic banks, just given that it seems like the economic impact at this state in Asia is much milder compared to the West?

Question: Thomas Andrew John Rayner - Numis Securities Limited, Research Division - Analyst : Two questions, please. The first, if I could just sort of go back, I think Martin asked right at the beginning, on the revenue. The sort of inflection between when the downward pressure from rates starts to alleviate and lead more positive growth from areas like Wealth Management and Financial Markets starts to become the driver. Your guidance for Q4 seems to be pointing to full year revenue of sort of 14.7 to 14.8. The full year consensus for '21 is currently 15, and that was a sort of fairly flat profile against what was originally expected for 2020. So my sense is, are you still comfortable with around 15 for next year? That would seem to imply revenue growth of between 1% and 2%. Is that consistent with your thoughts on this idea of inflection between those 2 broad revenue drivers? That's the first question. My second question is on sort of dividends and what happens if the PRA does give sign off at the full year. I'm really interested in this idea that investors had to forego their final 2019 dividend, like $0.20. Is there any thought process that might say, well, we can restart and sort of pay back that $0.20 as a sort of 2020 final and then the real dividend policy, as going forward, will be driven from 2021 onwards. Is that in your thought process still? I'm just interested in your thinking around that thinking.