Standard Chartered pre-tax profit down 22%

Standard Chartered has seen its profit before tax dip by over a fifth in its latest quarterly results.

Standard Chartered, which is the shirt sponsor for Liverpool Football Club, recorded a 22% drop in pre-tax profit to finish the quarter ending 31 March on $1.47bn (£962m, €1.34bn).

The UK bank, which does most of its business overseas with particular focus on Asia, said that the decline was in part due to a $476m charge on bad loans, which was 80% higher than the same period in 2014.

Peter Sands, outgoing group chief executive, said: "Trading conditions remain challenging and the actions we are taking to de-risk, cut costs and build capital are having an impact on near term performance.

"However, underlying business volumes generally remain strong. We remain confident in the strength of our franchise, the opportunities in our markets and in our ability to build returns to an attractive level in the medium term."

Shares in Standard Chartered fell by over 3% in the morning trading on the back of the results, as they hovered around the 1,079.50 mark.