Everything and the kitchen sink for CEO Winters' Standard Chartered

Is Standard Chartered on the cusp of a major rights issue? That and more could be answered by freshly minted chief executive Bill Winters when he delivers his first quarterly earnings report for the bank today.

The former JP Morgan boss, who took over the bruised British lender in June, will have lots to cover. Disappointing results are likely on the list, with an average of analyst expectations showing a 15 per cent year-on-year plummet in pre-tax profits. A poll of analysts by Bloomberg said revenues could fall 7 per cent to US$8.8 billion.

A spotty performance will come as no surprise after several quarters of flagging growth and a stumbling attempt by predecessor Peter Sands to reform some of the bank's structural problems.

But Winters' stance on counteracting a hole in Standard Chartered's regulatory capital - something beckoning a rights issue of up to US$10 billion - will guide the bank's direction for years to come.

"Any comments on the future size, shape and returns of the business are likely to be more important than [the second-quarter] performance," Barclays analyst Sharnie Wong said in a note.

At the end of last year, Standard Chartered's common equity tier-one ratio, a measure on capital strength, was 10.7 per cent, leaving it at the weak end among global peers.