Aberdeen AM owns 6% of Standard Chartered
Fund group is communicating with the bank; its London shares have lost 29 per cent compared to their close last week.
Aberdeen Asset Management has said it owns 6 per cent of Standard Chartered, which is under pressure from claims by US regulators that it concealed Iranian transactions.
“The bank is held across many of our funds including global funds, UK funds and pan-European funds,” an Aberdeen spokesman said.
“[Aberdeen] owns 6 per cent of the company and we are one of the largest shareholders. We are speaking with the company at the moment.”
Standard Chartered strongly denies the accusations, insisting it has complied with US sanctions on Iran, but its London-based shares shed 6.1 per cent in the closing minutes of trading yesterday and a further 24.3 per cent in morning trading today.
The shares are now trading 29 per cent lower than their close on Friday (August 3) last week.
New York state regulator the Department of Financial Services (DFS) is threatening to remove Standard Chartered’s banking licence in the state, accusing it of concealing 60,000 transactions totalling $250bn.
Aberdeen holds Standard Chartered in portfolios including its $7bn Aberdeen Global Asia Pacific Equity fund run by Mr Young (pictured). As at June 30, the bank was in the fund’s top 10 holdings list as a 3.1 per cent position. The holding in this fund is via the bank’s Hong Kong listing.