The group, which decided last year to leave several African countries, announces that it has reached an agreement with Access Bank for the sale of five of its subsidiaries.
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In April 2022, Standard Chartered a announced its decision to leave several African and Middle Eastern countries including Cameroon. The British group released again on July 14, 2023 to announce that an agreement has been reached with Access Bank. The latter thus obtained the acquisition of the subsidiaries of Standard Chartered in five countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Cameroon, Angola, Gambia, Tanzania and Sierra Leone. Only, it will still be necessary to wait no less than a year to see this sale be recorded. Because, it will be necessary to meet certain regulatory requirements of the regulators of both parties. Certainly it is necessary to ensure a joint protocol so that the process of transfers or sales of the bank’s outstandings is done without negative impact on the banking system and with customers.
The British banking group had explained its departure by a strategic review of its positioning. An explanation considered logical by many observers of the African financial sector. It was even unsurprising given the measures taken by this bank for several years at the international level. ” Standard Chartered has reduced the number of branches in Pakistan by 50% in 2021 and Nigeria in 2022 respectively. The banking sector has diversified a lot in Africa in recent years. Several banks, in addition to their commercial activities, have developed the individual customer segment or created subsidiaries in brokerage firms, business banks and financing counters (SMEs, entrepreneurship) while Standard Chartered Bank had strategically chosen the segment. sales and businesses in countries still largely dominated by the customer segment. By examining the data, we realize that SB had lost significant market share. It therefore decided to expand to markets where the commercial, corporate and customer segment is higher. “, analyzed George Meka Abessolo financial expert.
In Cameroon, Standard Chartered Bank held a good place in long-term loans. The latest data from the national banking market reveal that the British bank followed CBC in the lead with an outstanding amount of 47.8 billion FCFA against 31.693 billion for Standard Chartered Bank.
