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Standard Chartered lifts 2030 earnings target to 18% with Hong Kong at core: CEO Winters

Bank refines 2030 profit plans, citing city’s role as a superconnector in wealth and global capital flows, with automation trimming costs

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Enoch YiuPublished: 2:08pm, 19 May 2026Updated: 4:21pm, 19 May 2026Standard Chartered has raised its 2030 earnings target to 18 per cent by expanding wealth, cross-border banking and digital businesses, with Hong Kong at the centre of its growth story, according to global CEO Bill Winters.

Investors welcomed the plan, sending the bank’s shares up as much as 4.4 per cent to HK$205.20 in early afternoon trade on Tuesday, before closing 2.3 per cent higher at HK$201.20. The stock outperformed the benchmark Hang Seng Index, which rose 0.5 per cent.

The London-headquartered lender, which focuses on emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, is aiming for a 15 per cent return on tangible equity in 2028 and 18 per cent in 2030, up from 11.9 per cent in 2025. Growth will be driven by wealth and cross-border business, alongside a 15 per cent cut in back-office headcount through automation by 2030.

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Winters unveiled the new targets at a media briefing on Tuesday morning ahead of an investor event in Hong Kong, describing the city as “extremely important” and a “key growth driver” in Standard Chartered’s strategy.

“Hong Kong is our home market. It is our biggest market and fastest-growing market,” he said. “Standard Chartered is a superconnector, connecting our clients of 55 markets to each other, and Hong Kong is at the centre of a lot of that network flow and wealth flows.”

Winters added that Hong Kong was no longer just a gateway to and from mainland China, but now played a bigger role in global trade and capital flows between Asia, Europe and Africa.

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