Standard Chartered Plc has announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its subsidiaries in Sub-Saharan Africa to Access Bank, a subsidiary of Access Holdings.
This agreement was made known by the multinational bank through a statement released on Friday.
In April 2022, Standard Chartered said it would fully exit operations in seven countries in Africa and the Middle East (AME) as part of plans to upscale its businesses.
Announcing the deal, Standard Chartered said it will sell its shareholding in its subsidiaries in Angola, Cameroon, Gambia, and Sierra Leone to Access Bank. It added that the bank will also take over its consumer, private, and banking business in Tanzania.
The move is expected to expand the territory of Nigeria’s biggest financial services group in the African continent, where it has already ventured into strategic markets including Angola, South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia in addition to Mozambique.
According to Standard Chartered, “Access Bank will provide a full range of banking services and continuity for key stakeholders including employees and clients of Standard Chartered’s businesses across the five aforementioned countries.”
“The agreement is in line with Standard Chartered’s global strategy aimed at achieving operational efficiencies, reducing complexity, and driving scale.”
The deals are subject to regulatory approvals in each of the countries as well as in Nigeria, the bank added.
Speaking on the transaction, Sunil Kaushal, regional chief executive officer (CEO) for AME, Standard Chartered, said: “This strategic decision allows us to redirect resources within the AME region to other areas with significant growth potential.”
On his part, Roosevelt Ogbonna, Group Managing Director, Access Bank Plc, said “This strategic transaction represents a key step in its journey to build a strong global franchise focused on serving as a gateway for payments, investment, and trade within Africa and between Africa and the rest of the world, anchored by a robust capital base; a relentless focus on execution; and best-in-class customer service & governance structures.”
“Our 5-year growth plan will see us build a world-class class payments gateway leveraging the power of technology and a robust network of relationships across our operating countries,” Ogbonna said.
He added, “This will be supported by a dynamic ecosystem of local and international partnerships, enabling us to serve global payments and remittances efficiently. With our recent European expansion and our deepened presence in key trading corridors across Africa, we will bridge the gap between cross-border and domestic transfers across all business segments. More importantly, we are committed to impacting our host communities positively.”