Standard Chartered shares climbed modestly on Monday, yet failed to fully bounce back from a steep sell-off at the close of last week sparked by a United States congresswoman.
The lender’s stock edged up by one per cent as trading commenced, hitting 1,319.50, as reported by City AM.
However, this remained well short of the 1,407 level before Friday’s rout, when shares plummeted by as much as nine per cent.
The decline followed New York Republican Elise Stefanik posting a letter on X demanding the attorney general investigate the bank over purported terrorist payments.
Friday’s rout erased $3bn (£2.21bn) from the bank’s market capitalisation as Stefanik pressed for immediate intervention with the case against the institution due to lapse on August 19.
The London-listed bank maintained the claims in a protracted civil case were “entirely false” and had been dismissed by US courts on multiple occasions.
The matter concerns a whistleblower action brought by Brutus Trading, which claims that Standard Chartered unlawfully processed and concealed billions of dollars in dealings for Iran and terrorist groups. Standard Chartered stated: “The underlying allegations – including the claim that there are $9.6bn in unlawful transactions – are entirely false and have been rejected by the US courts multiple times. We expect the dismissal of this case will continue to be upheld on appeal.”
Standard Chartered’s price target unchanged
Joseph Dickerson, equity analyst at Jefferies, commented: “The circumstances surrounding this case are not new – the so-called Brutus Trading case has been around since 2012.”
He noted the “absence of new facts” indicated the risk of US litigation “remains limited” for the lender.
Jefferies maintained their target price for the bank’s shares at 1640p.
Standard Chartered encountered legal difficulties earlier this year when it faced a $2.7bn lawsuit concerning its purported involvement in one of the globe’s most significant financial fraud cases, recognised as the 1MBD scandal.
From 2009 to 2013, Standard Chartered reportedly permitted over 100 questionable transfers through its systems, despite red flags suggesting the funds could be connected to criminal activity.
The lender declared it “emphatically rejects any claims” brought by the 1MDB entities, noting that the liquidators had openly acknowledged they were “shell companies with no legitimate business.”
