Pre-tax profits were 356 million pounds ($534.7 million) for the year's first six months. Analysts expected first-half profits at between 340 and 380 million pounds.

The company said it was undertaking a major productivity programme aimed at improving efficiency and customer service that would cost 480 million pounds over the next three years.

It would take a 200 million pound charge for the programme during the current year. The bank added it had received a number of approaches for its Chartered Trust unit and expected to make an announcement within the next few weeks.

Standard Chartered set an interim dividend of 7.425 pence, up 10 per cent.The international banking group, which does little of its business in Britain, has operations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and elsewhere in Asia and in the Middle East.

The bank, which operates mainly in South Asia, said it will shed 6,000 jobs over the next two years as part of a restructuring programme to improve efficiency. The bank added it would also create 1,000 new jobs to support its growth strategy at the same time.

As part of a three-year, 480 million pound ($720.9 million) productivity programme, the bank said it would develop single processing centres, centralise and outsource processing in low cost centres, and simplify its organisational structure. "All in all, these initiatives mean we will reduce ourhead-count by 6,000 over a two year period, while at the same time we will create 1,000 new jobs to support our growth strategy," it said in a statement detailing its financial results for the year's first-half.

-- (Reuters)