AGM Statement

Standard Chartered PLC
04 May 2006

                             STANDARD CHARTERED PLC

                             ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

                                   4 MAY 2006



The meeting will deal with the proposed Resolutions as outlined in the Notice of
Annual General Meeting issued to Shareholders dated 27 March 2006 and will
provide a summary of the business and final performance of the Group in 2005 and
of current progress.



The following statements are excerpts from the speeches to be made to
shareholders by Bryan Sanderson, Chairman, and Mervyn Davies, Group Chief
Executive, at the Annual General Meeting, being held today at 12.00 noon in
London.



Bryan Sanderson, Chairman

Before starting the meeting I would like to pay tribute to Lord Barber, who died
recently. He chaired the Bank from 1974 to 1987 and his wisdom and approachable
style were valued and respected by all of those who knew him.

Performance and dividend

I am very pleased to report another strong performance by the Group in 2005.

• Profit before taxation, including the post-acquisition results for SC First
Bank, which is the new name for Korea First Bank, is up 19 per cent.

• Income is up 27 per cent including SC First Bank and 14 per cent on an
underlying like-for-like basis.

• The Group has delivered strong earnings per share, up 23 per cent.

  • As a result, the Board is recommending a full-year dividend to
    shareholders of 64.0 cents, continuing our 11-year record of dividend
    increases of 10 per cent or more.

Our unique proposition - an Asian-led bank, denominated in dollars, with London
governance - continues to be popular with investors, reinforced as it now is by
the performance delivery of Mervyn and his executive team.

Economic outlook for our regions

The performance reflects the fact that the underlying business is doing well,
and our geographic diversity is helping us to deliver good results.  So let me
spend a few minutes on the economic outlook across these geographies.

Recent years have seen a buoyant world economy and our regions have benefited
from this, enjoying strong growth.  Many countries across Asia, Africa and the
Middle East are taking advantage of the favourable environment to push through
structural reform - this will support their longer-term sustainable growth and
economic resilience.

In the Middle East, more investment is being aimed at economic diversification
into areas such as retail and tourism whilst, in Asia, markets are shifting from
a reliance on exports to stronger domestic demand. For example, while exports
are certainly strong in Hong Kong and South Korea, consumer spending is the key
to their current growth.   As a result, Asian growth rates are expected to
remain well above those of OECD countries.

As a business operating in these markets, we are witnessing, at first hand, both
cyclical strength and structural change.

Recent strategic investments delivering results

We are also seeing the strategic investments we have made in recent years
deliver increasingly strong results.

In Thailand in 1999 we invested in 75 per cent of Nakornthon Bank, and, in 2005,
we bought virtually all the remaining stake. Standard Chartered Bank (Thai), as
it is now, has 41 branches and is well positioned as a local bank with
international strengths.

In 2000, in India, we bought Grindlays, changing the nature of our presence in
that growing market and others such as Bahrain, Bangladesh and Jordan.  We are
now the largest international bank in India with over two million consumer
customers and 800 top corporate relationships.

In Indonesia in 2004, together with our consortium partner PT Astra, we took a
controlling stake in Bank Permata - a consumer bank with more than 300 branches.
This gives us a strong position in this growing market.

In China, we established our presence almost 150 years ago and we are well
placed to take a leadership position in this emerging economic giant. Through
increasingly rapid organic growth we now have a total of 18 branches,
sub-branches and representative offices in 14 Chinese cities, making us one of
the best-placed foreign banks. In addition, in 2005 we took a strategic stake in
China Bohai Bank - the first joint-stock commercial bank to be granted a
national licence in China since 1996. We are also focused on the opportunities
presented by the Pearl River Delta - one of the world's fastest-growing economic
zones, which accounts for about one-third of China's exports.

In South Korea, Asia's third-largest economy with a population of 47 million, we
bought Korea First Bank. There are now 407 branches re-branded as SC First Bank
and we see excellent prospects in this market.

Our alliances also offer opportunities to us. Through relatively modest
investments in companies such as Fleming Family & Partners and Travelex, we have
created mutually attractive opportunities to access significant customer groups
with new offerings and products.

Future growth

Our strategy for the future is based on building our existing businesses, and
our geographic footprint presents many opportunities for continued organic
growth.  We will, however, consider an acquisition or alliance where it
complements our existing business, either by extending our geographic or
customer reach or broadening our product range.

We adopt a very disciplined approach towards acquisitions.  Any acquisition has
to fulfil the following criteria:

  • First and foremost, it must deliver shareholder value within an acceptable
    timeframe.

  • Secondly, it must have strategic fit and allow us to do something we could
    not do organically. For example, it might deliver a step change to the scale
    of our presence in a market. It might offer us access to an under-penetrated
    and rapidly developing banking sector, or to a young and growing population.
    It might also complement our existing geographies by giving us a presence in
    a particularly dynamic economy with strong growth prospects.
  • Thirdly, any acquisition must offer an optimal trade-off of resource
    allocation against organic growth opportunities.

As you would expect, we are often presented with opportunities in our markets,
or in new sectors or new geographies for us. And we have a team focused on
making sure we explore all these possibilities carefully.

For all of our shareholders, we continue to ensure the Group is focused on
performance and also has robust corporate governance.



Governance

It is my strongly held view that good performance and good governance reinforce
each other.  Under Mervyn's leadership, the management team continues to deliver
strong performance.  This performance is underpinned by the Group's strong
compliance culture and risk management.

As Chairman, I will continue to ensure that our overall corporate governance is
robust. The scale of the business is changing and as Standard Chartered
increases in scale and complexity, the Board will ensure that the governance and
structure of the Group keep pace - responding to escalating regulatory
requirements as well as the rapid growth of the business.  A strong Board that
successfully combines relevant but varied experience and skills is essential to
challenge and support management, particularly through periods of rapid growth
and change, such as that which the Group is now experiencing.

Closely allied to corporate governance is the concept of good corporate
citizenship. Our two global projects, Seeing is Believing and Living with HIV,
were chosen because our involvement continues to make a difference - to lives
and to livelihoods.

You may recall that on World Sight Day in 2004, we set a Seeing is Believing
target to raise funds in three years for one million sight restorations. I am
delighted to tell you that we met that fundraising target early, through the
efforts and generosity of many, many people, and the money is now being deployed
to make those sight restorations a reality. We are considering what happens next
for Seeing is Believing and there remains great enthusiasm among our customers
and employees for this programme.

Our Living with HIV campaign is also progressing well. Improving education and
understanding around HIV is not only a social need but it is also of real
commercial significance to Standard Chartered. HIV is regrettably an
overwhelming reality in many of the countries in which we operate. Improving
understanding of the disease, and how it can be treated, can help us to maintain
a healthy, stable workforce.

We want to ensure that our people have access to the knowledge that they need to
protect themselves, their families, and the communities where they live.

We are very proud of our contributions in these two areas of need and believe
that being a genuinely caring corporate citizen is integral to our success in
our markets.



Non-executive Directors retiring

I wish to pay tribute to two members of the Board who are retiring.
Non-executive Director Mr Ho KwonPing has played an important part in the
governance of the Group and, as already announced, will retire from the Board at
the conclusion of today's meeting. KwonPing has served on the Board since 1996
and I would like to thank him most warmly for the valuable contribution he has
made during this important period for the Group.

The second retirement I have to announce is that of Hugh Norton. Hugh has been
on the Board since 1995. He is the Senior Independent Director, he serves as the
Chairman of the Board Remuneration Committee and he is a member of the Audit &
Risk and the Board Nomination Committees.  He has made a significant
contribution to the governance, strategy and strength of the Company as it
stands today and we will miss his challenge, his counsel and his insights.  Hugh
will retire from the Board at the end of 2006.

Looking forward, I am pleased to inform you that Ruth Markland will succeed Hugh
as Chairman of the Board Remuneration Committee at the end of today's Annual
General Meeting and that the new Senior Independent Director of the Standard
Chartered Board when Hugh retires will be Rudy Markham.

I believe that Standard Chartered has a first-class Board, which works well as a
team, with each Director bringing a unique perspective and experience to bear in
support of your Company.

So, in closing, let me reaffirm to you that Standard Chartered is in good shape
and making strong progress.  Our markets' economic conditions play to our
strengths and management is focused on realising the opportunities they present.
  We are executing our strategy well and making good progress.

Thank you for your support.



Mervyn Davies, Group Chief Executive

Standard Chartered has undergone significant change in the last few years. Today
I would like to share four aspects with you.

The first is balance. We have worked hard to enhance the balance and diversity
of the Group and its performance. The 2005 results clearly demonstrate this. For
example:

  • In 2005, our two businesses, Wholesale and Consumer Banking, each
    contributed about 50 per cent of income and profit.
  • In 2005, eight of our markets each contributed profit of more than $100
    million, compared with five in 2003.

Second, the scale of the Bank is changing.

  • Our customer base has grown from seven million in 2003 to 12 million
    customers today.
  • We have expanded from 450 branches to 1,200 today.

Third, this is a Bank with a relentless focus on performance. One example of
this is Korea, where we have demonstrated the capability and capacity to seize
opportunities when they arise and to convert them rapidly into profit-generating
Standard Chartered businesses. SC First Bank became accretive to earnings in the
second half of 2005, in advance of the 2006 commitment we made at the time of
the transaction.

Fourth, underlying this progress are our people: a team of diverse and talented
individuals who have worked together tirelessly to transform the Bank. I want to
take this opportunity to thank all of our employees for their invaluable
contribution.

At this point, I do have some sad news. Christopher Castleman, who served as an
executive director for 10 years from 1991, died recently. After retiring,
Christopher continued to work closely with our Wholesale Banking business and as
an adviser to the Board.

Christopher was passionate about everything he undertook, and his strategic
thinking helped shape the Bank into the strong and focused company it is today.
He will be sadly missed.

Current Progress

Turning to current progress, our performance this year to date is in line with
the outlook that we gave at our 2005 Results presentation and in our 2005 Annual
Report.  We are seeing good income momentum in both businesses and across almost
all our geographies.

We are maintaining our disciplined approach to managing expenses and, for the
Group as a whole, expense growth for the full year will be broadly in line with
income growth.

We continue to manage risk proactively.  In Consumer Banking, we said that
Taiwan's credit card market would be a challenge in 2006 and it is proving to be
even more so than previously anticipated.   Elsewhere, loan impairment charges
in Consumer Banking are growing only in line with the size and mix of the book.
 In Wholesale Banking, the generally benign credit environment in many of our
markets continues: new provisions remain low; though, as expected, recoveries
and releases are less than 2005.

So, overall, the Group's progress in the first few months of 2006 continues to
be good.

Future focus

Looking ahead, we are confident that we can continue to build on our track
record for good performance, and we are optimistic about the future.

Thank you for your continued support as shareholders.

                                    - END -



For further information please contact:



Sean Farrell, Head of Media Relations      [phone]

Romy Murray, Head of Investor Relations    [phone]





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