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Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered continued to shine with record profits for the first quarter, in sharp contrast to loss-making Swiss counterpart UBS.

The British firm, which concentrates its lending on emerging markets, described the state of its balance sheet as "excellent" but did not provide exact figures in its trading update.

"The group has had a strong first quarter, delivering record levels of income and profit," Standard Chartered said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

"Despite the challenging macroeconomic environment and the continuing difficulties in the financial markets, the group remains in very good shape and we are selectively growing the business."

Following the update, Standard Chartered's share price rallied to stand almost 9% higher on the FTSE 100 index of leading shares.

Standard Chartered added: "We remain vigilant and continue to take a highly proactive approach to managing our balance sheet and the group's capital and liquidity position remains excellent."

Last month, the bank had announced a 20% jump in 2008 net profit to about £2.3bn, leaving it well-placed to face the global slowdown.

Despite the gain in profits after tax, Standard Chartered was not immune to rising bad debts linked to the credit crisis, writing off more than a billion pounds in 2008.

Currently the fourth-biggest British banking group by market value, Standard Chartered said its consumer banking operations were resilient in the first quarter and mortgages in Asia had performed well.

Last month, chief executive Peter Sands said Asian banks were far better placed to withstand the financial crisis than their Western peers who have lost hundreds of billions and are being forced to raise new capital.

Standard Chartered's fortunes differed wildly from those of Swiss bank UBS, which confirmed a first-quarter net loss of more than £1bn.

The beleaguered firm said customer withdrawals continued in the first quarter and that it expected loan losses to keep rising.

UBS has been hit hard by the financial crisis and a US legal probe into its American clients' offshore accounts, falling to a record loss of about £12bn last year.