Standard Chartered PLC (02888) has announced its intention to accelerate investments to position itself for long-term trends, aiming to sustain robust growth, enhance productivity, and further improve earnings quality to expand its competitive edge. Group Chief Executive Bill Winters stated: "Our strategy is built on a simple conviction: as the world becomes more interconnected, environments grow more complex, and cross-border activities increase, clients need a bank they can trust to navigate these changes. This is where Standard Chartered's uniqueness lies. Leveraging our market-trusted strength, combined with our network and product service advantages, we can effectively address the complex demands of cross-border business, a position that is difficult to replicate. We are investing to build competitive advantages that multiply over time, driving sustainable growth and higher-quality returns, with clear targets set for this purpose."

New Medium-Term Targets • The company has achieved its 2026 medium-term financial targets one year ahead of the original plan and has established a more streamlined, focused, and efficient structure, positioning it favorably to capture the next phase of growth and execute its strategy on a larger scale and at a faster pace. The company aims to: - Achieve a return on tangible equity above 15% by 2028, an increase of over 3 percentage points from 2025, and raise it to approximately 18% by 2030. - Deliver high-teens compound annual growth in earnings per share and a 5-7% compound annual growth in income from 2025 to 2028. - Leverage a positive income-to-cost growth differential to achieve a cost-to-income ratio of about 57% by 2028, down from 63% in 2025. - Increase revenue per employee by approximately 20% by 2028 through productivity improvements and reduce corporate function-related roles by over 15% by 2030. - Operate within a Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio range of 13-14%, while maintaining loan loss rates within a through-the-cycle range of 30-35 basis points. - Support a dividend payout ratio of 30% or higher, with a progressive increase in dividends per share.

Amplifying Advantages Through Unique Business Network and Product Service Capabilities The company is transforming Standard Chartered into a leading super-connector bank, utilizing its competitive advantages in areas with long-term structural growth potential to support sophisticated clients in managing cross-border operations. It provides support in sectors where clients' international business activities are rapidly developing and highly complex, and where its business network creates the most value. The strength of this model will compound over time. As clients grow and their operations become more internationalized, their adoption of the company's products across different markets and segments will broaden, enhancing network connectivity and client relationships, thereby driving higher-quality and more diversified long-term growth. The company is actively investing to further amplify this compounding effect.

Standard Chartered is currently the third-largest and fastest-growing wealth manager in Asia. Its Wealth Management and Retail Banking business has brought forward its target from 2029 to 2028, with key goals including attracting HKD 200 billion in net new funds and increasing the proportion of affluent client business revenue to total revenue to 75%. • The company will disproportionately increase investment in this business while continuing to focus on markets and portfolios with scale advantages and clear client positioning. • As Wealth Management and Retail Banking increasingly focus on affluent clients, the company is further integrating part of its Hong Kong retail client portfolio into the digitally-led Mox platform to expand Mox's business scale while supporting its foundation for building an affluent client base.

The company is investing in long-term structural trends to help corporate and institutional clients navigate a more interconnected, digitalized, and increasingly complex global economy. • Its Corporate & Institutional Banking business continues to leverage the unique advantages of its global connectivity network, flexibly supporting clients in anticipating changes in supply chains and capital flows. • The company is investing in higher-return business areas, such as the Financial Institutions client segment, while consolidating its leading positions in areas like Renminbi business, sustainable finance, and Islamic finance.

The next phase of the company's growth will be built on a more streamlined, efficient, and interconnected operating model. • The company will adopt a prudent approach to workforce planning, reducing corporate function-related roles by over 15% by 2030. • It is enhancing the practical application of automation, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence to streamline processes, improve decision-making, and elevate client service and internal efficiency.