Standard Chartered Plc, the U.K. bank that makes about three-quarters of its earnings from Asia, posted a 24 percent drop in first-half profit after writing down the value of its Korean business by $1 billion.

Net income fell to $2.18 billion from $2.86 billion a year earlier, the London-based lender said in a statement Tuesday. Revenue rose 6.6 percent as growth in Hong Kong and India mitigated declines in Korea, Singapore and China.

Standard Chartered and HSBC Holdings Plc, which also makes most of its profit in Asia, are being hurt by China’s economic slowdown. London-based HSBC on Aug. 5 posted a revenue decline and said expansion in its fastest-growing markets was slowing.

“We are clearly not targeting double-digit income this year, but still expecting to grow our business at a good pace this year,” Finance Director Richard Meddings said on a conference call with journalists.

China’s economy has slowed for two straight quarters, extending its longest period of expansion below 8 percent in at least two decades.

Standard Chartered said South Korea is the bank’s ”most difficult market“ and a source of bad debts after the country created a fund aimed at easing households’ debts by buying and rescheduling overdue loans. (Bloomberg)