The Standard Chartered Plc logo is displayed atop the Standard Chartered Wealth Management Centre in Hong Kong, Feb 16, 2019. (ANTHONY KWAN / BLOOMBERG)

SINGAPORE/LONDON - Standard Chartered lifted its near term revenue targets and announced a share buyback on Thursday, signs of growing confidence as a recovery in pandemic-hit markets and rising interest rates helped the bank double full year profit.

The London-headquartered bank expects revenue to grow by an extra 3 percent per year as it benefits from rising interest rates as policymakers look to turn off years of cheap funding to fight inflationary pressures.

The London-headquartered bank expects revenue to grow by an extra 3 percent per year as it benefits from rising interest rates as policymakers look to turn off years of cheap funding to fight inflationary pressures

The bank, which earns most of its revenue in Asia, also announced a $750 million share buyback, starting imminently, and a 12 cents per share dividend for 2021, up a third on 2020.

"Confidence in our overall asset quality and earnings trajectory allows us to return significant capital to shareholders," Chief Executive Bill Winters said.

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StanChart's statutory pre-tax profit surged to $3.3 billion in calendar 2021 from $1.6 billion in 2020. That compared with a $3.8 billion average estimate of 16 analysts, as compiled by the lender.

The bank reported credit impairment charges of $263 million, versus $2.3 billion a year earlier.