COMPANY PROFILE
2014
Standard Bank
0860 123 000 / +27 11 299 4701 | www.standardbank.co.za
company profile
Bringing modern banking to the masses Editorial: Christian Jordan Production: Emily Woodhall
In the past six months, Standard Bank has been picking up awards from some of the most well-respected financial bodies in the world. IndustrySA finds out more about how this banking industry powerhouse continues its fantastic story of African growth with no signs of slowing anytime soon.
When Standard Bank was established back in 1862, no one could have known what a success the business would turn out to be. Now one of Africa’s largest financial service groups, Standard Bank has a long and illustrious history and its success is showing no signs of slowing following an extremely successful showing at The Banker Magazines annual Deals of the Year Awards 2014. The awards; run by The Banker, an English language publication owned by The Financial Times; recognise excellence for deals struck across Africa and take into account various categories for deal submissions. Standard Bank was recognised by the magazine for its contribution to the Aspen Pharmacare $2.6 billion
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funding package which saw the bank underwrite, arrange and syndicate debt for subsidiaries of the Aspen Pharmacare Group. Other deals recognised by The Banker included Stanbic IBTC, a member of Standard Bank Group, acting as the joint issuer and bookrunner for the Islamic Finance Deal for the Osun State government of Nigeria. This transaction was the first time a Sukuk bond had been issued in West Africa and saw increased demand from institutional investors, rising from $61.87 million to $72 million. Also in Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC was involved in the restructuring of term finance for Polo Park Mall in Enugu State, overseeing the addition of equity into the
Standard Bank
deal and resulting in the award for ‘Best Restructure of Term Facilities’. Another deal in which Standard Bank impressed involved the Eyethu Orange Farm Mall, the first mall of its kind in the Orange Farm area and something of a breakthrough in the development of non-metropolitan areas. Standard Bank provided all of the debt structuring and debt finance to the project and according to David Munro, Standard Bank Group’s Chief ExecutiveCorporate and Investment Banking Division, these awards show the company’s capabilities across many different local markets. “Winning these accolades across numerous categories is testament to Standard Bank’s African capabilities and
on the ground local expertise in the markets in which we operate,” he said. “Our distinctive African footprint has allowed us to gain strategic insights into the various African markets within which we operate, ensuring that we are uniquely placed to provide our clients with world class service.” Awards from The Banker are a big deal and the magazine is widely regarded as the world’s premier banking and finance resource, aimed at senior bankers and world leaders.
PAN-AFRICAN BANKING Standard Bank’s continental footprint but local focus is something which has allowed the company to continually
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company profile grow in Africa. Demand for financial services from international commodity traders and quickly expanding national, regional and local businesses in Africa has seen a steep rise since the withdrawal of international lenders following the global recession. Many African regions and industry sectors have witnessed significant growth, even since the global economic slowdown, and in true entrepreneurial style Standard Bank has viewed the withdrawal of global lenders as an opportunity rather than a threat. “The financing gap left by the European banks continues to manifest itself but we believe this provides an opportunity for Pan African banks such as Standard Bank to step into the breach,” said Gwen Mwaba, Standard Bank Group’s Executive Vice President Structured Trade Finance, who was speaking at the 6th annual East Africa Trade and Commodity Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya in May. “Standard Bank aims to be the bank of choice in Africa and given the number of new clients we’re onboarding, particularly in the oil and gas sector, we expect the demand for locally-grown banking services to help propel us into that position.” Africa’s total exports grew to US$498 billion in 2013, highlighting the scale of the continents trade finance opportunities and African businesses engaged in global trade and regional expansion have been forced to turn to domestic financial institutions for their commerce needs.
“Standard Bank aims to be the bank of choice in Africa and given the number of new clients we’re onboarding, particularly in the oil and gas sector, we expect the demand for locally-grown banking services to help propel us into that position” But not all of this growth has been in global trade; exports (including everything form tea and coffee to oil and metals) from East African countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi reached approximately US$12.5 billion in 2013 and Mwaba says a significant driver of this growth has been the rise in intra-African trade, which is currently growing at 9.1%
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per annum. “A lot of our East African clients are expanding beyond their home bases into their neighbouring countries and this is helping to boost regional trade in all the major economies of the region, but particularly in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” she said. And Standard Bank is perfectly suited to step in an assist with regional growth. The company says: “The advantage that many African banks enjoy over their international competitors is not only local knowledge but also their increasingly stronger balance sheets, the necessary capital and liquidity, sufficient risk appetite and competitive funding costs. This has created a huge opportunity for Pan African banking institutions to be more creative in providing trade finance solutions to their clients.”
ACCESSIBILITY Having a strong local footprint with in-depth local understanding is not the only way that Standard Bank has been making banking easily accessible. In April, the company was recognised by Celent, an international research and consulting firm, for providing the value of banking to ‘grassroots South Africans’. Celent, specialists in international research and consulting, named Standard Bank its 2013 Model Bank: Digital and Omnichannel, for the bank’s AccessBanking concept and range of services. AccessBanking solutions have lowered traditional barriers to entry in the banking industry and allowed many new customers, almost ten million in fact, to access Standard Bank’s innovative services. This has been of huge benefit to underprivileged South African’s who can now access mainstream banking solutions where they could not before, allowing them to build a solid financial platform. In Celent’s report on AccessBanking, the company said that it had been impressed with Standard Banks willing to approach a market that had been previously classed as unprofitable and difficult to serve. The report also commended Standard Bank for ‘going directly to the people and changing the value proposition of financial services in South Africa’. Head of Inclusive Banking at Standard Bank South Africa, Kabelo Makeke said that recognition from the likes of Celent will institutions in emerging economies the confidence to adopt all-inclusive approaches. “While it’s always gratifying to receive awards like this, we are especially pleased when they take the industry forward and drive innovation that ultimately
Xantium
Standard Bank
Integrated Solu tions
Complete Card Solution Provider Made in Africa for Africa Xantium offers a complete service relating to the manufacturing, personalisation, fulfilment and distribution of cards. Our products and services range from consulting to the complete management of any one of the following aspects: • EMV Card Design & Manufacturing • EMV Personalisation • Stationery / Packaging Design and Sourcing • PIN Mailer Printing • Card Distribution and Reporting Detailed production and distribution information for all cards is provided in real time through Xantium’s web-based Track and Trace system. This system is secured and accessible only by authorised employees. All reports generated on this system are PCI-DSS compliant. For any card related product enquiries please contact Xantium Integrated Solutions Tel: +27 (0) 11 472 9330 or E-mail: sales@xantiumis.co.za
Xantium/Plascards Track and Trace system provides an end-to-end secure and auditable card production management ERP and distribution system, covering the full bureau life-cycle; from automatically and securely importing client banking data for the purpose of card personalisation and highly customisable packaging and complete stock management of banking and financial institution cards, to the ultimate delivery in-branch or to a client The system ensures that all software process are secure and automated, so that interaction with sensitive data is kept to a minimum, whilst ensuring separation of duties is enforceable and auditable for each step in the card personalisation process. TnT also provides the bureau’s clients with transparent and accurate web-reporting information to track the card personalisation process including: receiving card data, personalisation, quality control, stock management, packing, dispatch, invoicing, management reporting and can be further integrated to include tracking the progress of courier delivery activities. The system is further extended to manage a customer’s branch card stock, between branches in country. The Track and Trace system has been designed and implemented using a multi-tier design to ensure secure and ease of use whilst providing clients an efficient transparent near real-time view of the card personalisation and delivery process. Each tier is separated physically to conform to association security requirements, ensures system reliability and only contains the required software and data for efficient secure day-to-day operations. The Track and Trace system has been designed and implemented using a component based agile design. Therefore, minimal hardware resources are required for each component of the system whilst providing maximum security. The modular design enables adding of additional personalisation sub-systems with minimal risk, effort and impact on the core system. This innovation allows financial and non-financial institutions, operating in Africa, to get operational cards into clients hands much faster than before (anything from 10 to 20 days down to just 2 to 4 days) and to have a complete transparent view of the whole process in virtually real time, from card personalisation to inbranch delivery. This is then further extended to in country, in branch stock control. For more information visit: www.xantiumis.co.za
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company profile benefits our customers. Since 2010, when we first rolled out AccessBanking, 6.8 million people have opened AccessAccounts. By transforming our back-end processes and making intelligent use of mobile technology, we have been able to reduce the costs of administering these accounts and cut our bank charges allowing us to pass the saving on to our AccessBanking customers,” he said. “We expect the business to grow exponentially, not only as new customers come on board but as existing AccessBanking customers grow their financial needs. “The fact that Celent has made this objectively clear means that more banks should choose inclusivity as the road to sustainability and, in the process, begin to roll back the boundaries of poverty worldwide by taking banking to the people.” The AccessBanking model is remarkably simple and initially, Standard Bank South Africa reviewed communities where access to banking was difficult or expensive and employed local people to use mobile technology to open accounts for customers and issue bank cards. To back up this drive, the bank created 4000 AccessPoints in local stored where customers can use their cell phones to manage all the regular transactions at minimal cost, benefitting themselves and the owner of
the store. “Our investment into creating this effective banking eco-system has been very beneficial to our AccessBanking customers. They are benefiting every day from our easy to use and convenient AccessBanking services. Inevitably, this will also pay off for our economy as a whole,” said Makeke.
BEST BANK Away from The Banker magazines recognition and Celent’s positive reports, Standard Bank has been winning awards at continental level, further reinforcing its position as one of the tops names in African finance. In April, Standard bank Group was named Best Bank in Africa by Global Finance magazine. Global Finance is a leading monthly global industry publication aimed at corporate leaders, bankers, investors and executives responsible for making investment and strategic business decisions. The magazine also named Standard Bank the best Bank in Angola, South Africa and Uganda in its Best Emerging Markets Bank Awards 2014. To cap things off, Standard Bank Group was also named Global Best Investment Bank in Frontier Markets and the Best Investment Bank in Africa in the magazine’s
SAFE & SOUND As the cash management partner to the banking industry, we have witnessed the challenges, achievements and evolution of the banking environment and are proud to celebrate Standard Bank’s successes over the years. As they anticipate their future growth, not only in Africa, but also in the rest of the world, they can do so with peace of mind, knowing that their cash management is taken care of by the company rated as one of the best cash in transit companies in the world. For a tailor-made, end-to-end cash management solution for your business, call 011 283 2000 or visit www.sbv.co.za.
Smart Thinking. Safe Solutions.
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Standard Bank 2014 World’s Best Investment Bank Awards. These awards recognise individual banks from various countries, regions and sectors across the globe that have met the criteria set out by Global Finance editors and a team of experts. Standard Bank Group Chief Executive, Ben Kruger said that the awards bear testament to the world class service that the company offers. “Winning these accolades across numerous categories is testament to our on-going commitment to becoming Africa’s leading financial services organisation.” “Our distinctive African footprint has allowed us to gain strategic insights into the various African markets within which we operate, ensuring that we are uniquely placed to provide our clients with world class service,” he said. Standard Bank Group’s strategy is to remain committed to Africa, with a particular focus on natural resources and infrastructure. The company will continue to focus on delivering superior sustainable shareholder value by serving the needs of its customers through first-class, on-the-ground operations in chosen countries.
INFRASTRUCTURE Reiterating its focus on infrastructure in Africa, Standard Bank was last month appointed as financial adviser and lead debt arranger for Sundance Resources in a USD$3.5-billion project to build port and rail infrastructures for the Mbalam-Nabeba Iron Ore Project in Central Africa. The project will see leading contractor Mota-Engil Africa build a port and rail link in Cameroon and CongoBrazzaville. The contractor has significant experience in sub-Saharan Africa and is currently working on a bulk commodity railway in Malawi operated by Brazilian mining group, Vale. The project is expected to achieve financial close by the middle of 2015 with construction expected to take a further three and a half years. Reports suggest that potential funding sources are already being discussed and partners, export credit agencies, development funds and commercial banks have already expressed interest in providing debt funding for the project. Rob Bessinger, Head of International Client Coverage, at Standard Bank Group, said of the project: “Standard Bank Group believes the Mbalam-Nabeba Iron Ore Project is a tier one asset that will generate significant revenue once in production. However infrastructure is key to unlocking its potential.
MOVING FORWARD INTO AFRICA WE TAKE CARE OF YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE
YOU TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS
We bridge the gap between IT Management and Contractors We offer Consulting, Engineering, Technical Design, Management, Implementation and Maintenance Services We provide Standards Based, Fit for Purpose, Tailor Made, Cost Effective, Maintainable Solutions We continue to deliver and maintain to corporates in 18 African countries within Budget and on Time
LEAVING YOU FREE TO FOCUS ON YOUR BUSINESS Tel.
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+27 21 448-5404
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“We have worked with Mota-Engil Africa on projects in the past, and we firmly believe they have the experience, credibility and capacity to put together a consortium that will succeed in building this project within the timeframe and budget outlined in their tender. Moreover, we are confident in our ability to raise funds for the construction phase of the project.” Standard Bank Group has already held talks with a host of potential funding partners and has received several expressions of interest from export credit agencies and development finance institutions. Insurance companies have also expressed interest in providing protection for the commercial banking tranche. These institutions have offered considerable support to the Mbalam-Nabeba Project including international providers of project equity and debt capital. Sundance commenced work with Standard Bank Group and MotaEngil Africa to convert the indicative term sheets to creditapproved term sheets by the end of 2014. On the energy side, Standard Bank Group has been a major part of the country’s development, fuding more than 940MW of renewable energy in line with Eskom’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme set out by the government. The energy produced by these projects was enough to power more
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company profile than 65,000 homes in 2013. “The drive towards renewable energy is developing an entirely new energy market in South Africa, which requires both specialist skills as well as innovative funding models,” said Rentia van Tonder, Head of Renewables for Standard Bank Group. “Given that these projects are greenfield investments for a newly-created consortium with own equity, we opted for a project finance model with a fairly long repayment term as the facility is effectively unsecured backed by a 20 year PPA supported by the SA government.” The three most prominent energy projects that Standard Bank has been involved with are the 27MW MetroWind Van Stadens Wind Farm in the Eastern Cape and the Herbert and Kalkbult renewable energy projects in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province. Herbert is a 22MW photovoltaic project that became operational on April 7th 2014 and Kalkbult is a 72.5MW photovoltaic power project has been connected to the grid since September 2013. It is this sort of commitment to supporting Africa and South Africa that has earned Standard Bank its reputation as a leader on the continent. The company says: “We have reaffirmed our Africa-focused strategy and we have made significant progress in the execution of our strategy,” and as long as this strategy continues to be followed then it looks certain that Standard Bank will grow and prosper throughout Africa and beyond.
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Standard Bank: The facts Established: 1862 Headquarters: Johannesburg, Employees: 53,000+ Products: Commercial banking Investment banking Investment management
Active areas: Operational in 32 countries around the world, including 19 in Africa: Angola, Botswana, Ivory Coast, DRC, Kenya, Lesotho, Ghana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia.
Standard Bank
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