This surge was driven by a 13% increase in operating income to $19.7bn (c. £15.6bn), with particularly strong performances in wealth solutions (up 29%), global markets, and global banking (both up 15%).

Bill Winters, group chief executive, said: “We produced a strong set of results in 2024.

“Our strategy of combining differentiated cross-border capabilities for corporate and institutional clients with leading wealth management expertise for affluent clients is firing on all cylinders, driving an increase in return on tangible equity to 11.7%.”

Despite the positive annual results, reported profit in the final quarter fell by 30% to $800 million (c. £630m) due to increased impairment and restructuring costs. As part of this restructuring, the bank announced a 40% reduction in Mr Winters’ base salary, though potential bonus increases could see his total pay reach $13.1m (c. £10.4m).

Looking ahead, Standard Chartered anticipates operating income growth towards the higher end of its 5% to 7% target range between 2023 and 2026, although growth in 2025 is expected to fall below this range. A final dividend of $0.28 (c. £0.22) per share has been proposed, bringing the total dividend for the year to $0.37 (c. £0.29), a 37% increase year-on-year.

Russ Mould, AJ Bell investment director, said: “Standard Chartered’s fourth-quarter results may have slightly undershot analysts’ forecasts due to higher loan and asset impairment and restructuring costs, but investors do not seem overly concerned thanks to a higher-than-expected dividend for 2024 and a new $1.5 billion share buyback for 2025.”

He added: “This rounds out a bumper set of full-year results from the FTSE 100’s Big Five banks which are running like cash machines right now, in terms of how much they earn and how much they are returning to their shareholders.

“In 2024, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest and Standard Chartered generated aggregate pre-tax profits of £50.3 billion, a new all-time high. Encouraged by ongoing cost-efficiency programmes, the absence of an economic downturn, modest loan losses and buoyant financial markets, analysts now expect further modest increases in 2025 and 2026.”