Luxury Indian Ocean LUXURY MAURITIUS No 5 EDITION 2018 | Page 70

INVESTIR
China (ICBC), qui est à la fois actionnaire et
entreprise associée au Standard Bank Group.
Notre vision est d’être l’organisation leader
dans le domaine des services financiers à
travers, dans et pour l’Afrique, en offrant des
expériences clients exceptionnelles et une
plus grande valeur ajoutée dans tout ce que
nous faisons pour nos clients. Cette vision
définit les principaux objectifs et la norme
d’excellence que nous comptons accomplir.
En quoi est-ce avantageux pour votre clientèle ?
Pour une entreprise, les plans de croissance
impliquent l’acquisition de nouveaux clients,
soit dans les pays où elle opère déjà, soit en
s’exportant dans d’autres pays. Dans ce dernier
cas, la Standard Bank offre une opportunité
unique à ses clients d’affaires, vu son
importante présence sur le continent africain.
Cette opportunité est particulièrement
intéressante dans le cas de l’expansion d’une
entreprise sur de nouveaux marchés. Du
point de vue de l’investisseur financier, notre
présence historique en Afrique permet l’accès
à un éventail d’opportunités d’investissement
de haute qualité à travers le continent.
Comment établissez-vous une relation de
confiance avec votre clientèle ?
Établir une relation de confiance prend du
temps et le fait d’exister depuis plus de 150
ans nous aide à cet égard. Toutefois, ce qui
est encore plus important ce sont les critères
comme le service client, la consistance et la
transparence. Ce sont les piliers de notre système
de Practice Management et le fondement de
notre engagement client. En 2016, le Forum
Économique Mondial a dévoilé son enquête
sur la compétitivité mondiale, établissant la liste
des pays aux banques les plus sûres au monde.
Après la Finlande, venait l’Afrique du Sud, avec
ses quatre grandes banques : la Standard Bank,
la FirstRand Bank, la Nedbank et la Barclays
Africa.
En quoi votre partenariat avec l’ICBC,
mentionné plus haut, sert vos clients ?
L’Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
(ICBC) est la première société bancaire
de Chine, réputée pour être la plus grande
banque du monde en termes d’actifs, qui
se chiffraient à 3 600 milliards de dollars à
la fin de l’année 2016. Les parts de l’ICBC
dans la Standard Bank (20%) font partie de
leur stratégie en vue de renforcer sa présence
en Afrique, puisque l’économie du continent
connaît une des croissances les plus rapides
au monde et jouit de l’intérêt grandissant des
investisseurs étrangers, notamment d’Asie. La
Chine et l’Afrique jouent tous deux un rôle
croissant dans le futur de l’économie mondiale.
Ce partenariat allie la portée mondiale et
financière de l’ICBC, à la solide expertise du
Standard Bank Group en Afrique.
68 LUXURY MAURITIUS
What are the responsibilities that come
with your role as the head of Wealth and
Investment?
As Head of the Wealth and Investment
(W&I) business unit in Mauritius, my role
is to develop Mauritius into a world-class
W&I centre supporting the High Net
Worth clients of the Standard Bank Group,
and ensuring that they receive the same
client value proposition, and the same high
standard of service, as they do across the
W&I franchise. I am also responsible for
Coverage in Central and Southern Africa,
to establish and grow W&I’s market share
with the High Net Worth clients in these
countries.
What are the services that you offer?
Standard Bank’s High Net Worth private
clients have access to a range of financial
products and services. These include Risk
Solutions, Investment Solutions, Trust and
Fiduciary Services, Philanthropic Services,
Specialised Lending and Transactional
Banking.
However, as a Wealth Manager, Standard
Bank embraces a solution-focused approach
rather than a product or service-oriented
approach in meeting its clients’ requirements.
We deliver financial solutions to our clients
that are based on the clients’ long-term
financial goals and needs, as determined by a
detailed financial needs analysis, which is an
informed and up-to-date client profile.
How are you different from others?
We seek to create value for our clients
through wealth generation and preservation,
and giving purpose to their wealth through
assisting them in attaining their desired
lifestyle, as well as being custodians of their
wealth for the next generation.
Approximately 85% of the rich families
lose their fortune at the end of the third
generation. Standard Bank offers trust
services and other structures to facilitate the
orderly transmission of wealth to successive
generations. We invite the family members
of our clients to our Leadership Academies
to deepen their knowledge of finance,
investing, leadership and philanthropy.
These academies distinguish themselves as
being unique in their content, delivery, and
approach, and underscore our commitment
to “banking the family”.
What is Standard Bank’s vision for Africa?
We have a heritage of more than 150 years,
and are present in 20 countries in sub-Saharan
Africa. We have a strategic partnership
with the Industrial and Commercial Bank
of China (ICBC), both as a shareholder
and an associated business within Standard
Bank Group. Our vision is to be the
leading organisation in the field of financial
services, in, for and across Africa, by offering
exceptional customer experience and greater
customer value-add in everything that we do
for clients.
This vision defines the principal objectives
and the standard of excellence which we
intend to achieve.
How can this benefit your clients?
For a company, growth could either be
from acquiring new clients either in
existing countries that it operates in; or by
establishing a presence in other countries.
In this last scenario, Standard Bank offers
a unique opportunity to its business
clients, given its wide footprint on the
African continent. This opportunity is
particularly significant in the case of a
company expanding to new markets in
Africa. From the point of view of the
financial investor, our historical presence
in Africa offers investors access to a variety
of high-quality investment opportunities
throughout the African continent.
How do you establish a trustworthy
relationship with your clients?
Establishing a trustworthy relationship
takes time. Our presence in Africa for more
than 150 years has helped us in this regard.
However, what is even more important
is customer service, consistency and
transparency, which are at the backbone of
our “Practice Management” and the core of
our customer engagement.
In 2016, the World Economic Forum
revealed its investigation about world
competitiveness, establishing a list of the
countries with the safest banks of the world.
After Finland, in the next place, comes
South Africa; with its four largest banks:
Standard Bank, FirstRand Bank, Nedbank
and Barclays Africa.
In what way your partnership with the
ICBC, mentioned previously, serves your
clients?
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of
China (ICBC) is a Chinese multinational
banking company, and the largest bank in
the world by total assets, that stood at US$
3.6Tn at the end of 2016. ICBC’s stake in
Standard Bank (20%) is part of its strategy
of reinforcing its presence in Africa, a
continent whose economy has exhibited
one of the fastest growths in the world,
and enjoys the growing interest of foreign
investors, particularly from Asia. China and
Africa both play an increasingly important
role in the future of the world economy.
This partnership combines the financial and
global reach of ICBC with Standard Bank’s
Africa expertise.
STANDARD BANK Contact p.139