Standard Chartered
| File:Standard Chartered logo.gif | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| ISIN | GB0004082847  |
| Industry | Banking |
| Predecessor | National Bank of India Standard Bank |
| Founded | 1852 |
| Headquarters |  London, England, UK |
Key people | E. Mervyn Davies CBE, Chairman, Peter Sands, Chief Executive |
| Products | Financial Services |
| Revenue |  $13.0 billion USD (2005) |
| $8.620 billion USD (2006) | |
| $2.4 billion USD (2006) | |
Number of employees | Nearly 60,000 (2007) |
| Website | www.standardchartered.com |
Standard Chartered Bank (LSE: STAN, SEHK: 2888) is a British bank headquartered in London with operations in more than fifty countries. It operates a network of over 1,600 branches (including subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures) and employs almost 60,000 people.
Despite its British base it has few customers in the United Kingdom and 90% of its profits come from the Asia Pacific Region, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Because the bank's history is entwined with the development of the British Empire its operations lie predominantly in former British colonies, though over the past two decades it has expanded into countries that have historically had little British influence. It aims to provide a safe regulatory bridge between these developing economies.
It now focuses on consumer, corporate and institutional banking, and on the provision of treasury services – areas in which the Group had particular strength and expertise.
Standard Chartered is listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is among the top 20 constituent members of the FTSE 100 Index.
On Tuesday 18th September 2007, Standard Chartered plc agreed to buy American Express Bank for around $860 million from American Express.[1]
History
The Standard Chartered Group was formed in 1969 through a merger of two banks: The Standard Bank of South Africa founded in 1863, and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, founded in 1853.
As its operations came under threat from nationalization programmes in the countries in which it was present in the 1970s, the bank sought expansion in developed countries, particularly the USA.
It also proposed a takeover of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which would have given it a substantial base in its home country, but this was prevented by a counter-bid from The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and then blocked by competition authorities in 1981. When a hostile takeover bid was made for the Group by Lloyds Bank in 1986 this was successfully defeated. After this, Standard Chartered entered a period of change.
The bank made provisions against third world debt exposure and loans to corporations and entrepreneurs who could not meet their commitments. It then began a series of divestments as it sought to re-focus itself on emerging markets.
It divested its stake in the Standard Bank of South Africa in 1987 in response to anti-apartheid pressure and today that bank is one of its major competitors in Africa.
In 2000, Standard Chartered acquired Grindlays Bank from ANZ Bank. The move caused some overlap in operations, for instance, giving it a second banking license in Qatar and an additional four branches in Bahrain. It sold both. Local investors bought Grindlays Bahrain and renamed it Commercial Bank of Bahrain. However, in the UAE Standard Chartered integrated the Grindlays' branches into its existing operation there.
Grindlays also had branches in areas Standard Chartered didn't want. For instance, rather than adding the Palestinian territories to the list of places in which it did business, Standard Chartered chose to close Grindlays’ Nablus and Ramallah branches. It also closed its branch in East Jerusalem and its representative office in Tel Aviv. In Greece, Standard Chartered sold Grindlays' Athens and Pireaus branches to Aspis Bank.
The move's main benefits were an increased presence in private banking and a rapid expansion in India and Pakistan. Standard Chartered retained Grindlays' private banking operations in London and Luxembourg and the subsidiary in Jersey, all of which it integrated into its own private bank. This now serves high net worth customers in Hong Kong, Dubai and Johannesburg under the name Standard Chartered Grindlays Offshore Financial Services. It did, however, sell the Geneva branch and private banking operation to Prudential-Bache International.
In India, Standard Chartered integrated most of Grindlays' operations, making Standard Chartered the largest foreign bank in the country, despite Standard Chartered having cut some branches and having reduced the staff from 5500 to 3500 people. Among the branch reductions was the sale in 2002 of Grindlays' branch in Srinagar to Jammu and Kashmir Bank and its Shimla and Darjeeling branches to ICICI Bank.
In Pakistan Standard Chartered merged in Grindlays' operations, making Standard Chartered not only the largest foreign bank in the country[citation needed], but the only one with branches in all four provinces.
Standard Chartered in the Americas
- 1968 Standard Chartered opened a representative office in México City.
- 1979 The bank opened representative offices in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Lima, Peru.
- 1983 The bank opened a representative office in Caracas, Venezuela.
- 1991 The bank opened a second representative office in Mexico, this one in Monterey, in the north.
- 1995 The bank opened a representative office in Bogotá, Colombia.
- 1996 The bank opened a representative office in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1998 Standard Chartered purchased Banco Exterior de los Andes y de España (Banco Extebandes) in Colombia and Peru.
- 2004 Standard Chartered closed its Colombian and Peruvian subsidiaries and retained its representative offices in both countries
Standard Chartered in Asia Pacific
Australia
Brunei Darsussalam
Standard Chartered Bank (China)
Cambodia
Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited
Indonesia
Japan
Laos
Malaysia
Mauritius
Philippines
Singapore
SC First Bank (in South Korea)
Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan)
Standard Chartered Bank (Thailand)
Vietnam
Standard Chartered in Middle-East & South Asia
Afghanistan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
India
Iran
Jordan
Lebanon
Nepal
Oman
Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan)
Qatar
Sri Lanka
UAE
Standard Chartered in UK/Europe
Switzerland
Turkey
Hawaii
Jersey
The UK (where the group headquarters are located)
The Falklands (classified as "Europe" for Standard Chartered purposes).
Standard Chartered in Africa
Botswana
Cameroon
Gambia
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Kenya
Nigeria
South Africa
Tanzania
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Recent Strategic Alliances and Acquisitions
On 15th April 2005, the bank acquired Korea First Bank, beating HSBC in the bid. Since then the bank has rebranded the branches as SC First Bank.
Standard Chartered completed the integration of of its Bangkok branch and Standard Chartered Nakornthon Bank in October, renaming the new entity Standard Chartered Bank (Thailand0. Stadard Chartered also formed strategic alliances with Fleming Family & Partners to expand private wealth management in Asia and the Middle East, and acquired stakes in ACB Vietnam, Travelex, American Express Bank in Bangladesh and Bohai Bank in China.
On 9th August 2006 Standard Chartered announced that it had acquired an 81% shareholding in the Union Bank of Pakistan in a deal ultimately worth $511 million. This deal represented the first acquisition by a foreign firm of a Pakistani bank and the merged bank, Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan), Pakistan's sixth largest bank.
On 22 October, 2006 Standard Chartered announced that it has received tenders for more than 51 per cent of the issued share capital of Hsinchu International Bank (“Hsinchu”). On completion of the offer, Standard Chartered will have majority ownership of Hsinchu, Taiwan’s seventh largest private sector bank by loans and deposits as at 30 June, 2006.
On 22 August, 2007 Reuters stated that Standard Chartered had bought a 49 percent of an Indian brokerage firm (UTI Securities) for $36 million in cash from Securities Trading Corporation of India Ltd., with the option to raise its stake to 75 percent in 2008 and, if both partners agree, to 100 percent by 2010. UTI Securities offers broking, wealth management and investment banking services across 60 Indian cities. [2].
Standard Chartered's management has not ruled out further acquisitions.
New Global Headquarters
As from April 2007, 1 Basinghall Avenue serves as the bank's new global headquarters in the City of London. Moving from nearby Aldermanbury Square the new building consolidates Standard Chartered's operations in London, which were spread across three offices. The bank moved to its previous building in 1992, after leaving their historic building on Bishopsgate. 1 Basinghall Avenue provides two hundred thousand square feet of office space and was constructed by Stanhope PLC.
Position today
Today the bank is a leading player throughout the developing world.
Standard Chartered Bank is one of the three banks issuing banknotes for Hong Kong (Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited became a note-issuing bank from 1 July 2004), the other two being the Bank of China (Hong Kong) and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
The bank supports marathons in many cities, including London (The City Run), Jersey, Singapore, Dubai, Lahore, Mumbai, Hong Kong and Nairobi.
References
- ^ http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=mergersNews&storyID=2007-09-18T103756Z_01_WLB2066_RTRIDST_0_STANDARD-CHARTERED-AME-URGENT.XML
- ^ http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=mergersNews&storyID=2007-08-23T114515Z_01_BOM269605_RTRIDST_0_UTI-STANCHART-UPDATE-1.XML
External links
- SCB Official website
- SCB Taiwan website
- SCB Singapore website
- SCB Malaysia website
- SCB Worldwide Directory
- Standard Chartered 150 Years Timeline
- SCB Quote and recent Headlines
- SCB Marathon Site - The Greatest Race on Earth
- Standard Chartered Board of Directors Information