Formation of Alliance

Standard Chartered PLC
15 December 2006

 STANDARD CHARTERED PLC AND FIRST DATA FORM MERCHANT ACQUIRING ALLIANCE ACROSS
                                      ASIA



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



Standard Chartered PLC ('Standard Chartered') announces that Standard Chartered
and First Data International, a leader in electronic commerce and payment
services around the world, have entered into an agreement to jointly establish a
new company to provide merchant acquiring services to merchants across Asia.



Headquartered in Singapore, the new company called 'Merchant Solutions Pte
Ltd.', with its local subsidiaries in seven initial markets across Asia, will
support Standard Chartered merchant clients with an expanded range of First Data
products and services for debit and credit cards, as well as additional forms of
electronic payments such as contactless and prepaid card acceptance. In
addition, Merchant Solutions will provide sales support with First Data
supplying front-end and back-end switching services.



Under the terms of the agreement, Merchant Solutions, will comprise 56 percent
ownership held by First Data and 44 percent by Standard Chartered, through its
wholly-owned subsidiary, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited.



Standard Chartered will transfer gross assets valued at approximately US$1
million into the alliance.  This transaction is subject to certain regulatory
approvals, and is expected to complete by October 2007.





For further information, contact:



Stephen Atkinson, Head of Investor Relations
Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]



Ruth Naderer, Head of Investor Relations, Asia Pacific
Tel : [phone]
[e-mail]



Sean Farrell, Head of Media Relations
Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange