HONG KONG, April 26 Reuters Standard Chartered PLC StanChart on Wednesday said firstquarter profit jumped 21, beating expectations, as rising interest rates buoyed income from its cash management and retail banking businesses.

Chief Executive Bill Winters said he now expects income for the emerging marketsfocused lender to grow around 10 this year, the top of a previously guided range.

The earnings update showed how rising central bank rates have boosted revenue, as StanChart charged borrowers more interest while not passing all of the increase to depositors.

StanChart, which earns most of its revenue in Asia, said JanuaryMarch statutory pretax profit reached 1.81 billion. That compared with 1.49 billion a year earlier and the 1.43 billion average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by the bank.

It was StanChart39;s largest singlequarter profit since the start of 2014 despite its biggest income earner financial markets trading seeing weaker activity compared with last year when markets experienced record volatility.

The bank39;s shares opened flat in early trading in London, outperforming a sagging STOXX European banks index which fell 0.4.

Allin, we see this as a solid set of results, and would expect a broadly neutral share price reaction, analysts at Goldman Sachs said.

Standard Chartered said income in its corporate cash management business tripled due to strong pricing discipline and passthrough rate management.

Retail banking income rose 53, propelled by…