Standard Chartered eyes sale of three African retail banking businesses

Standard Chartered is considering selling a number of its banking businesses across Africa as part of a wider shake-up at the finance giant.

The London-listed firm said on Wednesday that it is exploring the sale of its wealth and retail banking units in Botswana, Uganda and Zambia.

The money Standard Chartered makes from selling the businesses would be spent on its wealth management business, which the bank said it is looking to grow.

Chief executive Bill Winters last month vowed to double investment in Stan Chart’s wealth arm to around 1.5 billion dollars (£1.2 billion) over five years, ramping up spending on relationship managers and investment advisers.

The company is also pressing ahead with a restructure, reining in its mass retail business and simplifying the group.

It said in October it would look to sell off some smaller businesses “where the strategic rationale is not sufficiently compelling” over the next 18 months to two years to help it refocus on growth areas.

On Wednesday, the bank said the potential sales would not be “material” to the group as a whole.

Mr Winters said: “We continually assess the efficacy of our global business model and regularly take action to concentrate resources where we have the most distinctive client proposition.

“We have invested heavily in recent years in Africa, where we have operated for 170 years, and which remains core to our global network.

“We have more than doubled wealth assets under management in sub-Saharan Africa since 2021 – driven by our hubs in Kenya and Nigeria – and we are confident that the greater concentration resulting from the proposed sales will help us to continue to outperform the market.”