Leina Gabaraane Stanbic Bank Botswana Chief Executive
Stanbic Bank Botswana parent, Standard Bank Group, has received the Global Finance 2014 regional award for Africa, as Best Bank for Payments and Collections on the continent for a fourth consecutive year coupled with Best Bank for Liquidity Management in Africa, based on the publication’s annual ranking of best Treasury and Cash Management Providers by category and region.
While facilitating trade on the continent does remain challenging due to some technology constraints, varied regulatory and payment systems, the continent does still represent the next frontier of opportunity. Standard Bank’s on the ground presence in 20 African countries and local knowledge has made it easier to adapt to local environments and facilitate trade.
Neil Surgey, Standard Bank’s Head of Transactional Products & Services says “While a large part of trading activity occurs via the Africa, Asia and Europe trade corridors, we are starting to see growing levels of intra-Africa trade. This new trend is largely being driven by rapid urbanisation, a younger and growing middle class and the rise of the consumer class. Cheaper and improved telecommunications networks in these countries are also ensuring that customers and financial institutions are imbedded in the payments system. Sub Saharan Africa is expected to grow at plus 5% levels annually over the next decade. Standard Bank will ensure that its expertise, systems and people are there to support this growth by facilitating trade and supporting individual businesses on the continent.
In order to deliver on needs and solutions for clients, Standard Bank continues to invest in its technology capabilities, thereby augmenting its extensive footprint of over 1,230 full service branches in 18 countries across the continent.
“Standard Bank in its drive to be Africa’s leading transaction bank offers many products with re-routing capability across the continent that provides direct access to various niche markets through its capable franchise network” said Mr Surgey. “As a leading financial institution with Africa as our core competence, we believe we are well placed to assist companies with their investments of capital, technology and skills across borders, thereby helping facilitate their growth.”
“These awards by Global Finance are testament to the fact that Standard Bank is focused on providing market leading transactional solutions for our clients doing business in Africa,” said Mr Surgey. “Our solid reputation and expertise is complemented by our knowledge of Africa, our excellent people and the ongoing investment we are making in our capabilities across the region.”
The global credibility of the rankings is assured through a multi-tiered assessment process—which incorporates a readers’ poll, input from industry analysts, corporate executives, technology experts and independent research. According to the publisher, the ranking methodology blends a variety of subjective and objective criteria, including: profitability, market share and reach, customer service, competitive pricing, product innovation and the extent to which treasury and cash management providers have successfully differentiated themselves from their competitors around core service provision.
