"For the moment the level of overall impairment we saw in the third quarter is probably what we would expect directionally for the next few quarters. It's not entirely predictable, but in that sort of space," Andy Halford, finance director, told reporters on a conference call on Thursday.

The Asia-focused bank last month said profits this year would miss expectations after losses from bad debts jumped to $536 million (340.43 million pounds) in the third quarter, almost double a year earlier after a rise in losses in China and India and to commodities companies.

That profit warning was the bank's third in 2014, leaving its shares down 30 percent this year and raising pressure on Chief Executive Peter Sands to revive the bank's fortunes.

Standard Chartered said it had been "active and early" in managing its risks in India, China and commodities.

It said loans to commodities companies was down 2 percent this year, but still stood at $61 billion at the end of June, including 107 exposures of $100 million or more. It has expanded commodities lending since the financial crisis, and loans to mining and quarrying firms was $16.1 billion at the end of last year from $6.4 billion four years earlier.

Indonesian businessman Samin Tan, who owes the bank $750 million, is in talks to sell assets to help repay the debt, Reuters reported last week.

Sands declined to comment on exposures to individual clients.

He was speaking after a three-day investor trip in Hong Kong, where he set out plans to deliver returns above the cost of capital. He declined to say when that would happen.

"We've had very constructive discussions with our investors about what we are doing in terms of executing the strategy and getting the bank back onto a trajectory of growth and improved returns," Sands said.

Sands intends to save $400 million a year to improve profitability, by cutting 80-100 branches from the retail branch network and cutting jobs - which he said should be achieved by natural turnover.

Standard Chartered shares were up 1 percent at 955 pence by 1244 GMT, outperforming a flat European bank index <.SX7P>

(Editing by Susan Thomas)

By Steve Slater