Standard Chartered has finalised an agreement to sell its sub-Saharan Africa subsidiaries to Access Bank. The sale is part of Standard Chartered’s plan to divest from those businesses, which was announced last year.
According to Reuters, Standard Chartered will sell its shareholding in its subsidiaries in Angola, Cameroon, Gambia and Sierra Leone to Access Bank.
“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 seen by Reuters.
The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approvals in Nigeria, is in line with Standard Chartered’s global strategy “aimed at achieving operational efficiencies, reducing complexity, and driving scale”, it said.
Standard Chartered will also sell its consumer, private & business banking business in Tanzania to Access Bank, a subsidiary of Access Holdings.
“This strategic decision allows us to redirect resources within the AME region to other areas with significant growth potential,” Sunil Kaushal, Standard Chartered’s regional CEO for AME, said in the statement.
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”.
“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,” Roosevelt Ogbonna, Access group managing director said in the statement.
