Shares in Standard Chartered soared to a new all-time high yesterday as the emerging markets bank reported interim results that were better than expected and sounded a bullish note about its ability to continue growing.

Mervyn Davies, chief executive, said he was confident that the bank's geographical spread and strong balance sheet would allow continued growth, despite the risks posed by terrorism, the high oil price and the global boom in liquidity, which could lead to credit being mispriced.

Mr Davies said the integration of Korea First Bank (KFB), which Standard Chartered bought for $3.3 billion (€2.67 billion) earlier this year, was ahead of schedule.

He said he was keen to expand the group's operations in several areas, including its traditional home market of Hong Kong.

He also highlighted the need for the bank to target new markets, such as offering accounts and services for Asian and Middle Eastern customers living outside their home countries.

In the first six months of 2005, pretax profits leapt to $1.33 billion, an increase of 20 per cent over the same period of 2004, when adjusted for the adoption of international financial reporting standards (IFRS).

The results, which were ahead of analysts' expectations, included pretax profits of $84 million from KFB, which was integrated from April 10th. Under Standard Chartered's ownership, KFB has launched a personal loan product and is set to offer a broader range of mortgages.

However, Standard Chartered warned investors not to expect a proportionate contribution from KFB for the rest of the year, as second-half profits are likely to be held back by integration and the cost of rebranding the bank, which will be named SC First Bank.