Mubasher: London-headquartered Standard Chartered on Wednesday posted a 35% year-on-year rise in its net income during the third quarter of 2018, while its pretax profit rose 31%.

The UK lender’s net income came in at $752 million in Q3-18, compared with $557 million in Q3-17.

Underlying pretax profit was $1.06 billion in the period between July and September, compared with $814 million in the same period of the prior year.

Corporate and institutional banking division continued to be the key contributor, with its net income rising 1% to $1.646 billion in the third quarter ended September, compared with $1.629 billion in the same quarter of the previous year.

The division struggled with low deal activity and low client activity as the performance in financial markets was flat, the bank said.

Standard Chartered could face a fine of around $1.5 billion from the US authorities on the back of an ongoing investigation that examined whether the bank secretly moved funds through the US on behalf of Iranian clients, violating sanctions.

“The Group continues to cooperate with authorities in the U.S. regarding an investigation into historical violations of US sanctions laws and regulations,” the bank said.

In addition, the UK regulators are conducting an investigation into the activities of Standard Chartered on the ground of its financial crime controls.

“The Group is engaged with relevant authorities to resolve these investigations as soon as practicable. Concluding these historical matters, which could have a substantial financial impact, remains a focus of the Group,” it said.