Standard Chartered Bank has opted to sell its Wealth and Retail Banking Business in Uganda after 112 years.
Head Wealth and Retail Banking, Paul M. Sefa-Badu says a set of actions will see them concentrate resources where they have the most distinctive client proposition.
“In order to better support our clients, we intend to explore the sale of our Wealth and Retail Banking Business (WRB) in Uganda,” reads a statement.
StanChart said while announcing its third-quarter earnings, in October that it was looking at opportunities to sell some or all of a small number of businesses where the “strategic rationale is not sufficiently compelling”.
The exercise which is slated to take 18 to 24 months has caused anxiety among Ugandan clients as the financial institutions seeks to ensure a seamless exercise.
“Your deposits remain safe as and you can continue to perform banking transactions as per normal.”
“We will continue to have a strong corporate and investment banking in Uganda following the sell of our WRB business, subject to regulatory approval,” adds the lender.
“The group will concentrate its resources in these markets on serving the cross-border needs of global corporate and financial institution clients,” said Standard Chartered,as it announced similar moves in Botswana and Zambia.
The Asia-focussed lender, like rival HSBC is restructuring its business to focus more on affluent individual customers and international companies that are likely to yield more in fees for the bank.
It has for some time been moving away from wide global operations to focus on core businesses as it bets on strong economic growth in Asian markets.
The financial effects of the proposed exits are not material to the group, StanChart said.