Access Bank Acquires Standard Chartered Businesses

By Adedapo Adesanya 

Standard Chartered Bank has reached an agreement to sell its subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa to Access Bank.

The acquisition puts into motion a plan announced last year to divest those businesses.

According to a statement on Friday, Standard Chartered will sell its shareholding in its subsidiaries in Angola, Cameroon, Gambia and Sierra Leone to Access.

It will also sell its consumer, private and business banking business in Tanzania to Access Bank, a subsidiary of Access Holding Plc.

In April 2022, Standard Chartered said that it would exit seven countries in Africa and the Middle East markets as it seeks to improve profits by focusing on faster-growing markets in the region.

“Access Bank will provide a full range of banking services and continuity for key stakeholders, including employees and clients of Standard Chartered’s businesses across the five aforementioned countries,” Standard Chartered said in a statement.

The agreement is in line with Standard Chartered’s global strategy “aimed at achieving operational efficiencies, reducing complexity, and driving scale,” it said.

The statement didn’t reveal how much the deal will cost, but Business Post understands that it will be completed in the next year.

The deals are subject to regulatory approvals in each of the countries as well as in Nigeria.

According to Mr Sunil Kaushal, Standard Chartered’s regional CEO for AME, in the statement, “This strategic decision allows us to redirect resources within the AME region to other areas with significant growth potential,”

The statement said the deal would help Access “build a strong global franchise focused on serving as a gateway for payments, investment, and trade within Africa and between Africa and the rest of the world.”

On his part, Access Group Managing Director, Mr Roosevelt Ogbonna, said that, “With our recent European expansion and our deepened presence in key trading corridors across Africa, we will bridge the gap between cross-border and domestic transfers across all business segments.”