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May 25 2012 19:13
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The JSE has identified and stopped "incorrect" trades from one of its members, and will reverse the trades and lower the session's total value after the close.
Johannesburg - Standard Bank Group, Africa's biggest bank by assets, posted a drop in first-half profit on Thursday as impairments soared and said it expected 2009 earnings to be lower than 2008.
Standard Bank, 20% owned by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, said normalised headline earnings for the six months to end June dropped 27% to 351.3c, in line with its forecast of a 25% to 30% fall.
Credit impairments for the period jumped 58% to R7.1bn.
South African banks are being battered by rising defaults at their corporate and retail units as the country battles its first recession in 17 years and consumers struggle to pay back loans.
Absa, South Africa's biggest mortgage lender, earlier this month reported a 39% slide in first-half EPS, below its own forecast, while peer Nedbank lowered its 2009 earnings outlook after posting a slide in first-half profit.
Standard Bank said it remained cautious on its outlook for 2009 and said first-half results as well as current economic trends indicated that normalised headline earnings for 2009 would be lower than 2008.
- Reuters