Standard Bank leaves door open to dividend despite profit plunge

Standard Bank reported a 43 per cent drop in half-year profit on soaring bad loans but said sound that its capital position will allow for a final dividend.

Africa’s largest bank by assets said the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic led to a near-tripling in impairment charges for bad loans to 11.3 billion rand ($654.2 million) in the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2019.