{"text":[[{"start":9.77,"text":"Standard Chartered has announced a $1bn share buyback and higher quarterly profit as the Asia-focused UK lender embarks on a cost-cutting programme to reduce back-office jobs and step up use of AI."}],[{"start":33.2,"text":"Pre-tax profit rose 2 per cent year on year to $2.3bn in the second quarter, higher than an analyst consensus of $2.1bn, the bank said on Wednesday. Operating income rose 3 per cent to $5.7bn, above estimates of $5.6bn."}],[{"start":41.36,"text":"StanChart raised its guidance for annual operating income growth from the bottom of its 5-7 per cent range to the middle, driven in part by higher net interest income."}],[{"start":52.64,"text":"“It’s a very good quarter, we think, in terms of the momentum on the underlying top-line trends,” said Manus Costello, who took over as chief financial officer this month after the departure of Diego De Giorgi."}],[{"start":63.68,"text":"“We’re very pleased with the profitability outcome, and it’s a really good start to that three-year plan that we laid out a couple of months ago.”"}],[{"start":71.12,"text":"StanChart unveiled a set of profitability goals in May that included a plan to cut about 8,000 back-office jobs as it put AI at the centre of its strategy."}],[{"start":81.572,"text":"It is aiming to achieve more than 15 per cent return on tangible equity in 2028 and to exceed 18 per cent in 2030 alongside raising income per employee by a fifth. Return on tangible equity was 17.9 per cent in the second quarter."}],[{"start":98,"text":"The job cuts drew scrutiny because of remarks by chief executive Bill Winters that they were about “replacing, in some cases, lower-value human capital with the financial capital and investment capital we’re putting in”."}],[{"start":109.518,"text":"Winters struck a more conciliatory tone in an email to staff at the time and apologised for his “choice of words” in a letter to the FT this week while emphasising that AI would change the nature of work at the bank."}],[{"start":121.84,"text":"“Technology is reshaping financial services,” he said on Wednesday. “We are investing in data, digital platforms and AI to improve client experience, increase productivity and strengthen resilience."}],[{"start":134.533,"text":"“At the same time, we are simplifying the organisation, modernising infrastructure and removing complexity across the group,” he added."}],[{"start":142.905,"text":"Income from the wealth business, one of its growth linchpins, rose 43 per cent to $1.1bn, in line with expectations. The bank said it added 76,000 new wealth clients in the second quarter as the “pace of onboarding remained unchanged”."}],[{"start":159.033,"text":"A crackdown by Beijing on cross-border capital flows from mainland China has stoked concerns of a potential hit to Asia-focused wealth managers such as StanChart and HSBC."}],[{"start":170.32,"text":"StanChart set aside an additional $44mn in charges relating to the war in Iran, bringing the total for the year to $234mn."}],[{"start":182.64,"text":"The bank’s $1bn share buyback comes after it executed a $1.5bn buyback in the first half of the year."}],[{"start":189.112,"text":"Analysts at Citi called Wednesday’s earnings “overall a good set of results, with an impressive wealth result again” and suggested the company’s stated targets might reflect “undue conservatism”."}],[{"start":201.84,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1785309894_1953.mp3"}