Standard Chartered Bank

One of the best performing banks. Focusing on Asia, Africa and the Middle East, however,..

"Judging from its loan-loss provisioning, StanChart, the second largest bank in the UK by market value, clearly does not see risk building in the system for now.

"StanChart set aside 0.28 per cent of its outstanding loans as loan-loss provisions at the end of 2011, against 1.2 per cent at HSBC and 1.2 per cent at Barclays, according to company figures and Thomson Reuters Starmine."

on the consumer banking front, StanChart has said it will continue to expand into the riskier unsecured lending space, which now makes up a relatively low 17 per cent of its total consumer loan book but contributes for an outsized portion of its overall income."

India has dropped into the waste basket, now ...

"Evidence abounds in Asia that credit quality is expected to worsen soon, however. In South Korea, one of StanChart's biggest markets, average household debt has already exceeded that of the United States just before the 2008 sub-prime crisis."