Standard Chartered PLC — AGM Information 2004

May 12, 2004

Standard Chartered PLC

The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the "Hong Kong Stock Exchange") takes no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, makes no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaims any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement.

AGM Statement

Excerpts from the speech made to shareholders by Bryan Sanderson, Chairman, Standard Chartered PLC at the Annual General Meeting held on 11 May 2004 at 12.00 noon in London.

Announcement of 1 July 2004 as the date of incorporation of local businesses in Hong Kong.

This announcement is made pursuant to Rule 13.09(2) of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

CHAIRMAN'S SPEECH

Excerpts from the speech made to shareholders by Bryan Sanderson, Chairman, Standard Chartered PLC at the Annual General Meeting held on 11 May 2004 at 12.00 noon in London.

"This is my first AGM as Chairman of Standard Chartered, so I am very pleased to report that the Group has delivered another strong set of results - in fact record profits.

I'm going to divide my speech into three themes.

Firstly, our performance;

Secondly, how that positions us for growth;

And thirdly, the emphasis we place on Corporate Governance.

Performance

This is my top priority.

In 2003, we delivered revenue growth of 5%, and achieved a pre-tax profit of 1.54 billion US dollars, up 22% on the previous year.

Costs increased by 4%, despite significant investment in new products, new markets, and improved infrastructure. Bad debts also fell significantly, by 25%.

It is worth noting, we were the best performing UK bank in 2003 in terms of Total Shareholder Return, which is evidence of the strength and focus of our management team, as well as the performance culture that is developing throughout the Bank.

Because of these strong results, we are recommending a dividend for the full-year of 52.2 cents per share, an increase of 10.6%.

Growth

Turning to the economic outlook, the Asian economies are out-performing and gathering pace. Notwithstanding fears of over-heating, China and India are particularly strong and are having a huge impact across Asia.

Trade flows are outstripping GDP growth, benefiting our core regions. Reflecting this our revenue momentum has continued into the first few months of 2004.

The strategic intent of Standard Chartered is to lead the way in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

As I've outlined, this geography includes most of the world's fast-growing economies. Consequently, our primary focus is organic growth as we capture the opportunities in these markets.

We will continue to consider acquisitions but we are very disciplined in our approach. However, we do believe that there are a few places where we have opportunities to build a bigger presence; examples are China, South Africa and India.

Hong Kong remains our largest market and, along with Singapore, a critical management centre. Since last year, there has been a remarkable turnaround in Hong Kong's economic fortunes, which I'm delighted to see.

Today, I am very pleased to announce that we are incorporating our local business there, with effect from 1 July. By this means we can take advantage of the closer economic integration between Hong Kong and China. This will put us in an even stronger position as we expand our China business. We are grateful for the help we have received from the Hong Kong governing authorities.

Overall, we are in very good shape. We have exciting prospects for future growth.

Increasingly we are seen as an employer of choice, which allows us to attract some of the best talent in the market.

And we have demonstrated our ability to consistently create shareholder value.

Standard Chartered PLC

12-5-2004

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Standard Chartered PLC

We have many opportunities and we have started the year well. We have good momentum on revenue. The credit environment has remained very benign and we are continuing to invest in our business to capture growth opportunities in these favourable conditions. We are confident that we can deliver improved performance for 2004.

Corporate governance

In my role as Chairman I will continue to make sure we get our corporate governance right. It is my strongly held view that good performance and good governance reinforce each other.

We maintain good relations with our regulators around the world, and this reflects our leadership position in our markets.

Closely allied to corporate governance is the concept of good corporate citizenship. We have a responsibility for the type of business we do, and to the communities we serve. So in a year in which we grew our trading profit by 22%, our employees also raised sufficient funds to restore the sight of 56,000 people through our "Seeing is Believing" campaign. That is something we are really very proud of.

You will notice a few changes to our Board structure, and some new faces among us. In part these changes respond to changing corporate governance guidelines, notably the recommendations of the New Combined Code, which came into effect in January.

Let me outline these changes to you.

Lord Stewartby, who is Deputy Chairman, will retire from the Board after 14 years of distinguished service at the conclusion of this Annual General Meeting.

Sir Ralph Robins and David Moir, who have spent 15 years and 11 years respectively as Directors, will also be retiring today.

David Moir was appointed to the Board in January 1993 as an Executive Director.

I am pleased to announce that Hugh Norton will assume the role of Senior Independent Director and Rudy Markham will be appointed Chairman of Audit and Risk Committee with effect from today.

We have appointed three new Non Executive Directors during the year. They are Paul Skinner, Ruth Markland and Jamie Dundas.

Paul Skinner will be a member of the Remuneration Committee from today. He is Chairman of Rio Tinto PLC, and was formerly Group Managing Director of the Royal Dutch / Shell Group of companies and CEO of its global Oil Products business.

Ruth Markland is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and also a member of the new Nomination Committee. She was formerly Managing Partner Asia for the international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. She was a partner of Freshfields for 20 years.

Jamie Dundas has been recently appointed as a Non Executive Director, and will also be a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

His career includes high level experience as the Finance Director for the Airport Authority in Hong Kong, our largest market, and a strong background in banking. His work as Chairman of Macmillan Cancer Relief is a real asset.

I would also like to confirm that we have established a separate Nomination Committee, which is in line with best practice. This committee, which will be chaired by me, will review the size, skills and composition of the Board, as well as identifying potential candidates for Board approval.

2003 was our 150th year as a company and I would like to thank you all for your support."

INCORPORATION OF HONG KONG BUSINESSES

On 1 July 2004, the following Standard Chartered businesses will be merged into Standard Chartered Bank (HK) Ltd, namely,

• The Hong Kong branch of Standard Chartered Bank,
• Manhattan Card Company Limited,
• Standard Chartered Finance Limited,
• Standard Chartered International Trade Products Limited and
• Chartered Capital Corporation Limited.

As at the date of this announcement, the Board of Standard Chartered PLC comprises:

Executive Directors – Bryan Kaye Sanderson, CBE; Evan Mervyn Davies, CBE; Mr. Michael Bernard DeNoma; Mr. Christopher Avedis Keljik; Mr. Richard Henry Meddings; Mr. Kaikhushru Shiavax Nargolwala; Mr. Peter Alexander Sands Independent Non-Executive Directors – Sir CK Chow; Mr. Jamie Frederick Trevor Dundas; Mr. Ho KwonPing; Mr. Rudolph Harold Peter Markham; Ms. Ruth Markland; Mr. Hugh Edward Norton; Mr. Paul David Skinner

By order of the Board

Standard Chartered PLC

David Brimacombe

Company Secretary

London, 11 May 2004

Please also refer to the published version of this announcement in South China Morning Post dated 12 May 2004.

Standard Chartered PLC
12-5-2004