Standard Chartered CEO Says Fears of Slowing Growth in China and Trade War Mitten By Reuters

By Sumeet Chatterjee

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Standard Chartered (LON 🙂 The CEO of the PLC, Bill Winters, said that fears of a slowdown in Chinese economic growth and the impact of Sino-US trade tensions were disappearing a bit.

"China has taken modest steps to revive the economy," said Winters at the Swiss credit (SIX 🙂 Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong Tuesday.

"We are quite happy with China," he said.

Since July 2018, the United States has imposed tariffs on Chinese imports worth $ 250 billion, including $ 50 billion in technology and industrial goods (25%) and $ 200 billion in other products (10%).

China has imposed tariffs on US goods worth about $ 110 billion, including soybeans and other commodities.

The eight-month trade war between the world's two largest economies has led to rising costs, crumbling financial markets, a contraction in US agricultural exports and a disruption in supply chains.

StanChart, which makes most of its revenue in Asia, saw its fortunes collapse as a result of the restructuring of Winters which corrected the record of its excessive lending during the previous decade, while leaving the bank in trouble to increase profits.

Last month, the bank announced its intention to double yields and dividends in three years by reducing costs by $ 700 million and increasing revenues, even if it had missed its previous goals in a difficult market environment.

The group's latest 150-year-old projects coincide with the risk of a slowdown in its main emerging markets as a result of the trade war and economic uncertainties in China and Britain, two of its major markets.