By Selena Li and Lawrence White
HONG KONG/London (Reuters) -Standard Chartered PLC (StanChart) on Wednesday said first-quarter pretax profit rose 21%, beating analyst estimates, as rising interest rates and increased trading in volatile markets boosted income at the emerging markets-focused lender.
StanChart, which earns most of its revenue in Asia, said statutory pretax profit for January-March reached $1.81 billion. That compared with $1.49 billion a year earlier and the $1.43 billion average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by the bank.
Chief Executive Bill Winters said he now expects income to grow around 10% this year, at the top end of a previously guided range.
It was the bank’s largest single-quarter profit since the start of 2014, as rising interest rates boosted lending income while its financial markets trading division saw frenzied trading from customers amid volatile markets.
(Reporting by Selena Li and Lawrence White in London; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing)
