Standard Chartered halved its dividend and said it would raise capital from investors if needed, as new chief executive Bill Winters outlined his thoughts on reviving a bank hit by a 44 per cent slump in first-half profit.

Shares in the Asia-focused lender rose 4.5 per cent to 994.9 pence yesterday as investors welcomed Winters’ move to set a target to double return on equity to a minimum of 10 per cent.

That helped offset disappointment over the cut to the dividend for the first half of the year to 14.4 cents a share from 28.8 cents a year ago. The bank said it had “rebased” the payout to reflect its “current earnings expectation and outlook”.

As a result of the cut, StanChart said its Common Tier 1 equity position, a key measure of capital strength, had risen 80 basis points to 11.5 per cent, six months ahead of target.

Winters, who became CEO in June, did not rule out raising capital in future. “If we decide we need capital for the long-term benefit of the group, we will raise capital,” he said.

The bank said its pretax profit in the first six months of the year fell to $1.82 billion, down 44 per cent from a year ago.

StanChart has suffered a troubled three years, hurt by problems including fines from US regulators for misconduct, strained relations with top shareholders, plunging commodities prices and a weakened trading environment.

Winters has already shaken up the bank’s management structure, streamlining its eight geographical regions into four units that will report directly to him.