STANDARD PROFITS RISE

The rise in profit was driven by the performance of its business or wholesale banking arm, which has been the biggest beneficiary as the likes of ABN Amro and other big European and American banks pulled back from Asia as the financial crisis took hold.

However, growth in consumer banking was slow partly because of falling demand for investment products. Standard said there had been a “moderate” rise in bad debts.

A cautious outlook allied to fears that growth is ­slowing sent the shares down 28p to 1167p.

“Although there are tentative signs of improving economic conditions in some of our markets, equally there are signs of continuing stress,” said chief executive Peter Sands.

“We remain disciplined and firmly focused on the basics of good banking.”

Standard is on a shortlist to buy the Asian businesses being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland but it wants to cherry-pick the best assets rather than buy a job lot.