Standard Chartered positive on Africa’s growth potential  

Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited has reiterated the plans of the group to step up investments and leverage its unique footprint and international banking expertise to drive growth in Africa and Nigeria.

Through a new brand campaign, ‘Here for Africa’, the Bank is reiterating its commitment to investing in Africa’s future, and continuing to support key growth sectors across local economies, including infrastructure, telecommunications, transport, retail and trade.

Under the Bank’s refreshed global strategy, announced late last year, the Bank reiterated its heightened focus on Africa, seeking to grow its business across all markets, with a keen focus on Corporate and Commercial segments. Standard Chartered operates across 38 African economies, 16 on a full-presence basis and 22 on a transactional basis.

The Bank’s footprint of 180 branches and outlets now has an extended reach, thanks to the Bank’s continuous evolution of its digital platforms and mobile banking channels.

Currently, Standard Chartered supports over 1 million retail customers in Africa, and over 25,000 commercial, corporate and institutional clients.  In November last year, the Bank committed to USD3 billion in strategic investments globally, over the next three years – a commitment which has already seen Africa benefiting with a multi-market upgrade of digital and mobile banking platforms.

Speaking at the launch in Nigeria, Bola Adesola, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria, Cameroun and Cote D’Ivoire said, “Today, we launch our ‘Here for Africa’ campaign in Nigeria.  Standard Chartered Nigeria continues to deliver tangible benefits to support local economic growth.”

She said, “These benefits include development of human capital; roll-out of digital banking solutions to more than 200,000 retail customers; sovereign advisory expertise and support as Sovereign Ratings Advisor to the Federal Government through the Ministry of Finance; attracting new investor capital from across Europe, US, Middle East and Asia, as well as empowering local entrepreneurs by bridging the gap between large multinationals and local suppliers through our successful supply chain financing proposition.  All these initiatives help reinforce our legacy and aspirations to support the financial success of our clients while partnering with the government and Central Bank of Nigeria to build an economically stable environment for Nigerians.”

Speaking at the regional launch of the Africa-focused campaign held in Ghana, Sunil Kaushal, Regional CEO of Africa & Middle East said, “Africa is an integral and a valuable economic partner region within our unique footprint across the region, Asia and the Middle East. This campaign is about our show of commitment and confidence in a continent that we have been in for over 150 years. We consider ourselves truly African – every one of our sub- Saharan CEOs is African, our people who lead and manage our strategy are Africans, and our strategy is tailored to suit Africa’s specific trends and business dynamics. We are indeed here for good and here for Africa.”