Standard Chartered Bank

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Standard Chartered PLC

Type	Public
Founded	1852
Headquarters	London, United Kingdom
Key people	E. Mervyn Davies CBE, Chairman, Peter Sands, Chief Executive
Industry	Banking
Products	Financial Services
Revenue	$13.0 billion USD (2005)
Operating income	$3.8 billion USD (2006)
Net income	$2.4 billion USD (2006)
Employees	Nearly 60,000 (2007)
Slogan	Leading the Way in Asia, Africa and the Middle East
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 56,000 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. 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 is among the top 20 constituent members of the FTSE 100 Index.

1 History
2 Recent Strategic Alliances and Acquisitions
3 New Global Headquarters
4 Position today
5 External links

[edit] 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.

A Standard Chartered Bank (HQ) in Singapore.

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 HSBC 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 Palestine to the list of places in which it did business, Standard Chartered chose to close Grindlays’ Nablus and Ramallah branches; it did, however, keep the branch in [{East Jerusalem]]. 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.

[edit] 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 its integration between Standard Chartered Bank Thailand and Standard Chartered Nakornthon Bank in October. It 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 worth $415 million. This represents the first acquisition by a foreign firm of a Pakistani bank and once the merger is complete will make Standard Chartered 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.

Its management have not ruled out further acquisitions.

[edit] New Global Headquarters

From April 2007 1 Basinghall Avenue will serve as the bank's new global headquarters in the City of London. Moving from nearby Aldermanbury Square the new building will consolidate Standard Chartered's operations in London, which are currently spread across three offices. The bank moved to its current building in 1992, after leaving their historic building on Bishopsgate. 1 Basinghall Avenue will provide two hundred thousand square feet of office space and is being constructed by Stanhope PLC.