London: Standard Chartered Plc, the British bank generating most of its revenue in Asia, missed analysts’ first- quarter profit estimates, with all but one division reporting lower earnings in the period.

Pretax profit fell to $1.5 billion (Dh5.5 billion) from $1.9 billion in the year-earlier period, the London-based lender said in a statement on Tuesday, when providing its first quarterly breakdown for the period. That’s below the $1.6 billion average estimate of four analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Standard Chartered hired Bill Winters, 53, a former co-head of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s investment bank, to take over as Chief Executive Officer in June after Peter Sands struggled to reverse two years of declining earnings and a slump in shares. The bank said last month it doesn’t plan a capital increase, instead focusing on cost cuts and asset sales.

“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,” Sands, 53, said in his final earnings statement before stepping down next month. “However, underlying business volumes generally remain strong.”

The shares fell 2.9 per cent to 1,083 pence at 9.22am in London. They have increased about 12 per cent since the management overhaul was announced on Feb. 26 after losing almost half their value over the previous two years.

Loan Impairments

Under Sands, the lender reported a 30 per cent slump in pretax profit in 2014, hurt by faltering economic growth in Asia, plummeting commodity prices and rising costs tied to misconduct such as the rigging of global currency markets. The bank is eliminating some 4,000 jobs and shutting equities trading to save about $1.8 billion in costs through 2017.

Loan impairment “remains elevated,” especially among corporate and institutional clients, rising 80 per cent to $476 million compared to last year, according to the statement.

While looking at ways to shore up earnings, Winters will also have to address a range of legal issues and tougher regulator scrutiny. Standard Chartered faces more rigorous stress tests from the Bank of England later this year. In the US, prosecutors said in December the bank may have committed trade sanctions violations beyond those covered by a 2012 settlement for conducting business with Iran.

The new CEO also has to pick a new management team, with senior departures at Standard Chartered this year including Asia CEO Jaspal Bindra and Viswanathan Shankar, head of Europe, Middle East, Africa and Americas. Chairman John Peace also plans to step down in 2016.

The board has come under pressure from investors to move to Asia as UK taxes on banks continue to rise. Relocation has become a political issue, just days before the UK election, with HSBC Holdings Plc also reviewing whether to leave London.

Standard Chartered is the first of Britain’s five largest lenders to release first-quarter results. HSBC is scheduled to report earnings on May 5.