,
Penang,
Malaysia Predecessors Chartered Bank The Chartered Bank began when
Queen Victoria granted a
royal charter to Scotsman
James Wilson in 1853. Chartered opened its first branches in
Bombay,
Calcutta, and Shanghai in 1858; branches in
Hong Kong and
Singapore followed in 1859. The bank started issuing banknotes denominated in
Hong Kong dollars in 1862. Having established a considerable number of branches Standard was prominent in financing the development of the diamond fields of Kimberley from 1867 and later extended its network further north to the new town of
Johannesburg when gold was discovered there in 1885. Half the output of the second largest gold field in the world passed through the Standard Bank on its way to
London. Standard expanded widely in
Africa over the years, but from 1883 to 1962 was formally known as the Standard Bank of South Africa. In 1962 the bank changed its name to Standard Bank Limited, and the
South African operations became a separate subsidiary that took the parent bank's previous name,
Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd. The bid was defeated; however, it spurred Standard Chartered into a period of change, including a series of divestments notably in the US and South Africa. It sold
Union Bank to
Bank of Tokyo and United Bank of Arizona to
Citicorp. In 1986, a business consortium purchased a 35% stake to fend off Lloyds. A member of this consortium was
Singaporean property tycoon
Khoo Teck Puat, who purchased 5% of the bank's shares, which he later increased to 13.4%. In 1987, Standard Chartered sold its remaining interests in the South African bank; since then the
Standard Bank Group has been a separate entity. In 1992, scandal broke when banking regulators charged several employees of Standard Chartered in
Mumbai with illegally diverting depositors' funds to speculate in the stock market. Fines by Indian regulators and provisions for losses cost the bank almost £350 million, at that time fully a third of its capital. In 1994, London's
Sunday Times reported that an executive in the bank's metals division had bribed officials in Malaysia and the Philippines to win business. The bank, in a statement on 18 July 1994, acknowledged that there were "discrepancies in expense claims [that] ... included gifts to individuals in certain countries to facilitate business, a practice contrary to bank rules". In 1994, the Hong Kong
Securities and Futures Commission found Standard Chartered's Asian investment bank to have illegally helped to artificially support the price of new shares it had underwritten for six companies from July 1991 to March 1993. The bank admitted the offence, apologized, and reorganized its brokerage units. The commission banned the bank from underwriting IPOs in Hong Kong for nine months. In 1997, Standard Chartered sold Mocatta Bullion and Base Metals, its metals division, to
Toronto-based
Scotiabank for
US$26 million. Standard Chartered's Asian investment banking operations never recovered. In 2000, the bank closed them down.
2000 to 2010 corporate office in
Marina Bay Financial Centre,
Singapore In 2000, Standard Chartered acquired
Grindlays Bank from
ANZ, increasing its presence in private banking and further expanding its operations in India and Pakistan. Standard Chartered retained Grindlays' private banking operations in London and
Luxembourg, as well as the subsidiary in
Jersey, all of which were integrated into its own private bank. This now serves
high-net-worth customers in Hong Kong,
Dubai, and
Johannesburg under the name Standard Chartered Grindlays Offshore Financial Services. Leading to the incorporation of
Standard Chartered (Hong Kong) on 1 July 2004, the
Legislative Council of Hong Kong amended Legal Tender Notes Issue Ordinance. The amendment replaced Standard Chartered Bank with its newly incorporated subsidiary - Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd - as one of the
note-issuing banks in Hong Kong. The same year, Standard Chartered Bank and
Astra International (an Indonesian conglomerate, a subsidiary of
Jardine Matheson) took over
PermataBank and in 2006, both shareholders increased their joint ownership to 89.01%. With 276 branches and 549 ATMs in 55 cities throughout Indonesia, PermataBank has the second largest branch network in Standard Chartered organization. On 15 April 2005, the bank acquired
Korea First Bank, beating
HSBC in the bid. The bank has since rebranded the branches as
SC First Bank. Standard Chartered completed the integration of its
Bangkok branch and Standard Chartered Nakornthon Bank in October, renaming the new entity
Standard Chartered Bank (Thailand). Standard Chartered also formed strategic alliances with
Fleming Family & Partners to expand private wealth management in Asia and the Middle East, and acquired stakes in
ACB in Vietnam, Travelex,
American Express Bank (
Bangladesh), and
Bohai Bank (China). The largest shareholder, billionaire
Khoo Teck Puat, died in 2004; and two years later, on 28 March 2006, the
Singapore state-owned private investment firm,
Temasek, became the bank's largest shareholder when it bought the 11.55% stake held by Khoo Teck Puat's estate. On 22 October 2006, Standard Chartered announced that it had received tenders for more than 51% of the issued share capital of Hsinchu International Bank ("Hsinchu"), established in 1948 in
Hsinchu, Taiwan. In 2007, Standard Chartered opened its Private Banking global headquarters in
Singapore. On 23 August 2007, Standard Chartered entered into an agreement to buy a 49% share of an Indian brokerage firm (UTI Securities) for $36 million in cash from Securities Trading Corporation of India Ltd., with the option to raise its stake to 75% in 2008, and,
if both partners were in agreement, to 100% by 2010. On 29 February 2008, Standard Chartered PLC announced it had received all the required approvals leading to the completion of its acquisition of
American Express Bank Ltd (AEB) from the
American Express Company (AXP). The total cash consideration for the acquisition is US$823 million. On 13 November 2008, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, entered into an agreement with
JPMorgan Cazenove to acquire 100% of Cazenove Asia Limited, an Asian equity
capital markets,
corporate finance, and institutional brokerage business. On 27 November 2009,
Dow Jones Financial News reported that Dubai will restructure its largest corporate entity. Among international banks, Standard Chartered has one of the largest loan portfolios in the Dubai market and the UAE as a whole, estimated to be
$7.77 billion in total. This amounts to 4.2% of Standard Chartered's total loans outstanding. Other impacted banks included
HSBC,
Barclays, and
RBS. The bank stated that any impairment arising from this exposure would not be material.
2010 to present ,
Pudong, Shanghai, People's Republic of China Standard Chartered announced an agreement on 27 April 2010 to buy the African custody business from
Barclays PLC. On 13 May 2010, Standard Chartered PLC launched the first-ever Indian Depository Receipt "IDR" offer. On 17 June 2010, Standard Chartered Bank and the
Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) entered into a strategic alliance meant to strengthened their strategic partnership and identify joint business opportunities. Joint business and cooperation task forces were set up in October that year to define the direction of the partnership and explore joint ventures. The committee was to be co-chaired by
Peter Sands, CEO of Standard Chartered, and
Zhang Yun, President of ABC. In December 2010, Standard Chartered was recognised as the Global Bank of the Year in
The Bankers Bank of the Year 2010 awards. Standard Chartered also was named
The Banker's inaugural winners of the Global and European Transaction Bank of the Year awards in September 2014, largely "on the basis of its work in emerging markets, particularly Asia". In January 2015, the company announced that it was exiting the money-losing "
equity capital markets business completely", "becoming one of the first global banks" to do so. The cuts followed a change of CEO after profit warnings and money laundering fines in the first half of the year. In 2016, Standard Chartered announced that it would stop providing loans to the midstream segment of the
diamonds and
jewellery industries. The announcement was the result of a review of the bank's involvement in risky business sectors. Owing to
defaults of jewellery and diamond companies from 2013 onwards, Standard Chartered is currently estimated to have $1.7 billion of diamond debt still to be repaid. In January 2022, Standard Chartered announced an agreement to acquire 100% ownership of RBC Investor Services Trust Hong Kong Limited from
RBC Investor & Treasury Services, expanding its custodian business to MPF and ORSO schemes trusteeship business in Hong Kong. In February 2025 Standard Chartered,
Animoca Brands and
Hong Kong Telecom establish joint venture to issue a HKD-backed
stablecoin.
Money-laundering charges On 6 August 2012, the
New York Department of Financial Services (DFS), led by
Benjamin Lawsky, accused Standard Chartered of hiding $250 billion in transactions involving Iran, labelling it a "rogue institution". The bank was ordered to appear and defend its actions, or risk losing its license to operate in the state of
New York. The DFS said it had documents showing a cover up of transactions allegedly used to fund terrorist groups in the Middle East. On 14 August 2012, Lawsky announced that the DFS and Standard Chartered reached a settlement that allows the bank to keep its licence to operate in New York. According to the terms of the settlement, the bank agreed to pay a $340 million fine. The bank agreed to install a monitor to oversee the bank's money laundering controls for at least two years, and appoint "permanent officials who will audit the bank's internal procedures to prevent offshore money laundering". Lawsky's statement said "the parties have agreed that the conduct at issue involved transactions of at least
$250bn." The bank issued a statement confirming that a settlement with the DFS had been reached and that "a formal agreement containing the detailed terms of the settlement is expected to be concluded shortly". Several financial analysts predicted that, due to its strong financial position, the bank would be able to easily cover the
$900 million fine without having to raise extra capital. On 19 August 2014, the bank was fined $300 million by the
New York Department of Financial Services for breach of money-laundering compliance related to potentially high-risk transactions involving Standard Chartered clients in Hong Kong and the UAE. The bank issued a statement accepting responsibility and regretting the deficiencies, at the same time noting the ruling would not jeopardize its U.S. licenses. In April 2019, it was reported that Standard Chartered may have to pay approximately $1 billion to settle its ongoing investigations in the US and UK. Earlier in February the company had set aside $900 million towards resolution of violations of U.S. sanctions and forex trading regulations. The company also faces a penalty of roughly $134 million from the United Kingdom's
Financial Conduct Authority related to historical financial crime controls which takes the amount to over $1 billion. In March 2025, Standard Chartered launched an exclusive investment platform club for its ultra-high-net-worth clients as part of its business restructuing switching focus towards wealth management. ==Financial technology==