Standard Chartered Plc said it would hand back $1.5 billion more to shareholders as it reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat estimates.

NET PROFIT: Standard Chartered is expected to post a 32% drop in net profit to $615 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, according to a poll of analysts by Visible Alpha. That would compare with net profit of $907 million in the year-earlier period.

Standard Chartered’s pre-tax profits fell 30 per cent in the final three months of last year as the era of rising interest rates came to an end. The bank reported statutory pre-tax profits of $800mn for the fourth quarter,