Peter Sands, the man whose ideas helped shape the Government's bail-out of domestic banks six weeks ago, is discovering no bank is immune from the icy winds blowing across financial markets. Standard Chartered, where he is chief executive, serves customers almost entirely in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, but is still tapping existing investors for £1.8 billion. It's also cutting the dividend.

Mr Sands says he didn't have to raise fresh capital, but he looks wise to do so. The perception of capital strength is essential for all banks. If things worsen in emerging markets, Standard will have anticipated it. In markets where bank runs are still commonplace, a strong balance sheet is invaluable. If things stabilize, the extra capital will give it the firepower to exploit any recovery to the full.

The fund-raising looks, if anything, a bit timid, raising its capital ratios by just 1.3 percentage points. If the global economy seriously slows, with the inevitable blow-out in bad debts, then the extra cushion will be neither here nor there set against a $330 billion balance sheet.

Meanwhile, the bank's pretence that the 25 per cent reduction planned for the final dividend is somehow not a real dividend cut is just plain silly.

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