Standard Chartered Seeks Myanmar Return, Sees Sanctions Ending

Standard Chartered Plc, the U.K. bank that earns more than two-thirds of its profit in Asia, seeks to return to Myanmar once the U.S. and Britain end sanctions against the country, which the lender says may happen this year.

“We used to be in Burma for a long time, and we’ll be very happy to get back there,” Jaspal Bindra, the bank’s chief executive officer for Asia, said at a meeting with journalists in Hong Kong today. “If I was a betting man, I would say in 2012 Burma will be off the sanctions list.”