Standard Chartered almost doubled its profit in the first three months of the year after a sharp fall in losses from bad loans.
This raised the prospect of the Asia-focused bank resuming dividend payments.
StanChart said it made a pre-tax profit of $1 billion, up from $589m the same time a year ago.
The bank booked a $198m loan impairment charge, much less than the roughly $500m expected by analysts.
StanChart is attempting to show investors it can return to growth after a sweeping restructuring under chief executive Bill Winters succeeded in cutting costs but at the expense of much lower revenues.
"This is an encouraging first quarter but we are not getting carried away," chief financial officer Andy Halford told reporters.
The bank's shares have risen 13% in the year to date.
Analysts have said it is among the best positioned of its peers to benefit from increasing US interest rates and stronger trade flows in Asia, where it has most of its business.
Standard Chartered's core capital ratio rose to 13.8%, making StanChart one of the best-capitalised major Europe-based banks and increasing the prospects of a return to dividend paying after it dropped payouts for 2016 due to restructuring costs.
Analysts sounded a note of caution following the results, noting that while the bank's falling bad loan costs were impressive it is still struggling to grow its revenues.
The bulk of the bank's improved revenues in the first quarter came from 'asset-liability management'- fine-tuning of the bank's debts and investments rather than sustainable fresh income from customers.
