Standard Bank Group Limited is a major banking and financial services group in South Africa. It is the largest lending institution in Africa by assets, with its corporate headquarters, Standard Bank Centre, located on Symonds Street, Johannesburg.

History

The bank, now known as Standard Bank, was established in 1862 as a South African subsidiary of Standard Bank, a British overseas bank, under the name Standard Bank South Africa.

The origins of the bank can be traced back to 1862, when a group of businesspeople led by prominent South African politician John Paterson established a bank in London, originally called Standard Bank of British South Africa. The bank began operations in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1863 and soon after its opening merged with several other banks, including Port Elizabeth Commercial Bank, Kohlsberg Bank, British Kavrarian Bank, and Folsmith Bank.

In 1867, it was prominent in the financing and development of the Kimberley Diamond Mine. In 1883, the word "English" was removed from the title. When gold was discovered in the Witwatersrand, the bank expanded northward and began operations on 11 October 1886 in a tent at Camp Ferreira (later known as Johannesburg), thus becoming the first bank to open a branch in the Witwatersrand Gold Mine. On 1 November 1901, a second branch opened on Eloff Street in Johannesburg.

Standard Bank in Adderley St, Cape Town

It was not until 1962 that the British bank was officially known as Standard Bank of South Africa, although at that time it had operations throughout Africa. In 1962, when the South African operations were established as a subsidiary, the parent company was renamed Standard Bank Limited, and the South African subsidiary followed the old name of the parent company.

In 1967, shares in Standard Bank of South Africa were offered to the South African public, although the British parent company retained more than 80% of the shares.

The parent bank merged with chartered banks in India, Australia and China in 1969. The merged bank was called Standard Chartered. In 1969, Standard Bank Investment Company (now Standard Bank Group) was established as the holding company for South African banks. During the 1970s and 1980s, Standard Chartered gradually reduced its holdings and in 1987 sold its remaining 39% stake in Standard Bank Group, transferring full ownership of the holding company to South African investors, in particular Liberty Life (and its affiliates), who were the main shareholders of the company until 1999.

In March 2019, Standard became the first bank in Africa to move its operations to Amazon Web Services.

In March 2019, the bank announced the layoffs of 91 branches and 1,200 employees. The decision was made due to the increasing use of self-service channels and the network of branches becoming less important.

In July 2021, Standard Bank announced that it would increase its stake in South African insurer Liberty Holdings from 54% to 100% for $594 million

Expansion and Acquisition

Africa

In 1992, the bank acquired ANZ's operations in eight African countries. Most of the newly acquired banks were renamed Stanbic Bank to avoid confusion with its former parent (now a competitor) Standard Chartered, which continued to operate in Africa. During the 1990s, Africa acquired several more banks and adopted the Stanbic name. Standard Bank now trades under the name Stanbic Bank in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Swaziland

Standard Bank Swaziland opened in 1988 and is today the leading commercial bank in the country.

Ivory Coast

In February 2014, Standard Bank Group is expected to open a representative office in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, marking the bank group's entry into French-speaking West Africa. Côte d'Ivoire becomes the 19th African country in which Standard Bank has established a subsidiary.

Malawi

In December 2001, Standard Bank acquired a 60.18% stake in Commercial Bank Malawi. The bank was renamed Standard Bank Malawi.

Madagascar

In Madagascar, the group is represented by United Commercial Bank.

Mozambique

Standard Bank SARL ("SBM") has a long history and is considered one of the leaders in the local market. Has been active in Mozambique for 120 years. The network's Standard Bank is one of the largest Standard Banks in the country. Covering all major towns in Mozambique, with 44 branches.

Namibia

Standard Bank in Windhoek

Standard Bank Namibia was largely separated from its South African parent company for legal reasons. The bank established its first commercial branch in Lüderitz on August 19, 1915, which was established in Namibia. It is one of the largest banks in Namibia with over 50 branches.

Nigeria

On August 21, 2007, Standard Bank Group acquired a controlling stake in IBTC Chartered Bank. Formed by the merger of International Banking & Trust Company Plc and Chartered Bank Plc. This gives subsidiary Stanbic IBTC Holdings a significant presence in the Nigerian market.

Tanzania

The Stanbic Bank building in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

In 1995, the bank acquired the operations of Meridien BIAO Bank and renamed it Stanbic Bank Tanzania Limited. In September 2012, Stanbic Bank Tanzania secured financing worth $3 billion for the Mchuchuma Iron Ore and Liganga Coal Mining Project in the Ludewa area of the newly established Njombe region in southwestern Tanzania.

Uganda

In 2002, Standard Bank acquired a 90% stake in Uganda Commercial Bank, then the largest commercial bank in Uganda, making Standard Bank a major player in the East African country's banking industry. They renamed the bank Stanbic Bank (Uganda) Limited. As of December 2012, Stanbic Bank (Uganda) remained the largest commercial bank in Uganda, accounting for approximately 20% of all banking assets and 18% of all bank branches in the country. Shares of Stanbic Bank (Uganda) Limited are traded on the Uganda Stock Exchange (USE) under the symbol SBU. Standard Bank Group holds approximately 80% of the shares.

In 2015, Stanbic Bank was embroiled in a fraud scandal involving money transfers from the Swedish Embassy to the private account of a former embassy employee.

Zimbabwe

Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe Limited is a commercial bank registered in Zimbabwe. In November 1992, Standard Bank began operating in Zimbabwe as Stanbic Bank

Europe

United Kingdom

In the early 1990s, the bank began operating in London, and Standard Bank of London Limited was granted a banking license in 1992.

In late July 2013, Standard Bank announced that it was in talks to sell its London-based markets business to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for more than $500 million. In November 2013, Standard Bank confirmed that it was in talks to sell a controlling stake in its London-based global markets business.

In January 2014, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined Standard Bank £7,640,400 for lapses in its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies and procedures for corporate clients with links to Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs). Between December 15, 2007 and July 20, 2011, Standard Bank failed to comply with Article 20 (1) of the Money Laundering Regulations because it failed to take reasonable care to ensure that all aspects of its anti-money laundering policy were properly and consistently applied to corporate clients associated with political figures

Turkey

Also in August 2007, Standard Bank Group acquired a 67% stake in Turkish bank Dundas ÜnlÜSecuritiesand currently operates in Turkey under the Standard ÜnlÜname. The bank sold its stake to 25% in April 2012, after which the Turkish subsidiary was renamed ÜNLÜ& Co.

Russia

On March 6, 2009, Standard Bank announced plans to acquire a 33% stake in Troika Dialog, Russia's second largest investment bank. The Troika, Russia's oldest brokerage firm, acquired Standard Bank's Russian banking operations, in addition to receiving $200 million in cash in the form of "convertible loans". Two executives from Standard Bank joined the Troika's six-member board of directors. In March 2011, Sberbank, Russia's largest bank by capital and assets, acquired Troika Dialog and paid Standard Bank $372 million for its 36.4% stake in the Troika.

Argentina

In 2006, Standard Bank acquired the BankBoston Argentina division to expand its operations into the country. In 2012, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China acquired 80% of its shares. Rebranding in April 2013.

INVESTMENT IN STANDARD BANK

LOAN AGREEMENT WITH BOC OF CHINA

On September 11, 2009, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Macau), Bank of China, China Development Bank and China CITIC Bank extended a USD 1 billion club loan to Standard Bank.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Transaction

In October 2007, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China acquired about 20% of Standard Bank for $5.50 billion. Half of the shares came from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's acquisition of existing shares, and half from new shares. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will also get two seats on the board.

Bank Fees

In 2005, Standard Bank was named the bank with the lowest bank fees in South Africa. By 2010, this had changed to the point that Standard Bank was rated as one of the highest bank charges in the country by Finweek's review of SA Bank charges. A report by Afriforum confirmed that Standard Bank, along with Absa Bank, is the bank with the highest bank charges in the country.

Client Server

The South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) for 2015 and 2016 ranked Standard Bank as the bank with the lowest Client Server among South African banks. Its overall movement in the index was down slightly from its previous rating.

Standard Bank's consumer satisfaction rose 2.4% from 75.3 in 2019 to 77.7 in 2020.

This remains the lowest among South Africa's largest banks.