Standard Chartered explores the sale of its Retail Business across three markets in Africa

Standard Chartered PLC (the Group) has announced that it is exploring the potential sales of its Wealth & Retail Banking (WRB) businesses in Uganda, Botswana, and Zambia.

The Group will concentrate its resources in these markets on serving the cross-border needs of global corporate and financial institution clients.

Speaking at a media briefing, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Uganda, Sanjay Rughani said: “Yesterday we announced that we are exploring WRB business sales in Uganda, Botswana and Zambia. As a result, we intend to exit from our WRB business in Uganda, subject to regulatory approvals. Standard Chartered will remain in Uganda, with a sole focus on our Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB) business. We see substantial opportunities in infrastructure, sustainable finance, and trade, reinforcing our commitment to these areas within Uganda and, indeed Africa.”

He further stated that, “We are taking a phased approach and the process is expected to take between 18 to 24 months to complete. Therefore, we urge the public and our customers to remain calm. We remain open for business; our branches and systems continue to work as normal – it is business as usual. In addition, we are committed to managing this process in partnership with our key stakeholders to minimise disruption for clients. We will keep our stakeholders fully informed as this process goes on.”  

Mr Sanjay stated that Standard Chartered Bank continually reviews its operations to ensure that we concentrate resources where we have the most distinctive client proposition. The sale of our WRB business will allow us to focus our resources where we can play to our strengths and best serve the cross-border needs of our CIB clients.

He stated that as a Bank, we have invested heavily in recent years in Uganda and indeed, Africa, which remains core to our global network. In a recent impact report by Steward Redqueen, the findings revealed that Standard Chartered Bank Uganda has over the years supported $896 million in value-added impact in Uganda (3.5% of GDP) and supported 491,000 jobs directly and indirectly. More recently, the Bank has funded infrastructure projects worth over $1billion.

Standard Chartered Bank has in the past divested in other markets like Tanzania and Ivory Coast and the outcome for both the Business and Bank colleagues has been very positive as it has accelerated the growth of the Corporate and Institutional Banking Business.

As Standard Chartered across Africa, we have also invested to build and grow core capabilities. Over the last 5 years, we’ve invested c. US$300m into upgrading our technology platforms and incubating Africa based ventures. Wealth Assets Under Management (AUM) in SSA has more-than doubled from US$1.7bn to US$4.0bn in the last 3 years; with big increases in Kenya and Nigeria. In CIB, we have recently financed over US$4bn of sustainability, infrastructure and national development projects. We have been recognised as the Global Export Finance Bank including ESG loan and infrastructure finance deal of the year in 2024.

Mr Sanjay stressed that this move is a strategic decision to focus our resources on higher-growth and higher-returning segments.