TRADE
Standard Bank CIB chief takes on the universal model
The CEO of corporate and investment banking at Standard Bank Group talks about its transformation into an Africafocused universal bank, the corporates pushing beyond the commodity rout, and why a savings culture is key to the future of banking in the continent.
For some banks, the motto emblazoned across their logo is a brand strategy. For Standard Bank, its‘ Africa is our home, we drive her growth’ mantra is more akin to a mission statement, and one it is pursuing wholeheartedly.
The most tangible evidence is the Johannesburg-headquartered lender’ s transformation from a global emerging markets investment bank into an Africa-focused universal bank. The sale in 2015 of 60 % of its global markets business to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China( ICBC) made headlines for making ICBC the first Chinese state-owned bank to own significant trading operations in London. But it also marked the culmination of a five-year reengineering by Standard Bank during which it sold most of its non-African emerging market businesses. The coverage operations it has maintained in each region’ s major financial centre are mandated with connecting Africa to the world and the world to Africa, where Standard Bank is on the ground in 21 countries.
‘ AFRICA IS OUR HOME, WE DRIVE HER GROWTH’ MANTRA IS MORE AKIN TO A MISSION STATEMENT, AND ONE IT IS PURSUING
WHOLEHEARTEDLY.
A bright future
A perhaps less visible, but equally important embodiment of the bank’ s fundamental principle is its leaders – including David Munro, CEO of corporate and investment banking( CIB) at Standard Bank Group. Mr Munro is emphatic that recent years’ well-cited emerging market headwinds have not irreparably damaged the continent’ s future.“ There’ s so much momentum and latent capacity in these economies that we feel that the growth story in Africa is not unduly interrupted by events such as China slowing down, the US rates lift-off and now Brexit,” he says. While the commodity crisis has fundamentally changed heavyweights such as Nigeria and Angola, given oil generates more than 90 % of their export revenue, it should not overshadow the prospects of markets such as Kenya and Mozambique. Mr Munro suggests keeping a particularly close eye on the latter.
42 Business Times Africa | 2016