Standard Chartered Bank
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Template:Infobox Company $6.86 billion USD (2005) |
operating_income = Template:Profit $2.68 billion USD (2005)| net_income = Template:Profit $1.97 billion USD (2005)|
industry = Banking|
products = Financial Services | homepage = www.standardchartered.com
}} Standard Chartered Bank (Template:Lse, Template:Sehk) is a British bank headquartered in London with operations in many countries, especially in Asia and Africa. Despite its British base, the bank has few customers in the United Kingdom, and most of its profits are made in its markets in Hong Kong, Korea and other parts of Asia. It is however, a large British company, quoted on the London Stock Exchange and is among the top 20 constituent members of the FTSE 100 Index of leading British companies.
Contents |
History
Standard Chartered Bank was formed through the merger in 1969 of two British overseas banks: the Standard Bank of British South Africa and The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China.
The Standard Bank
The Standard Bank opened for business in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1863. From the 1890s through the 1910s, the bank opened branches across Africa, although some newly opened branches were found difficult to operate and were subsequently closed down.
By the mid-1950s, the Standard Bank had around 600 offices across Africa. Its network grew substantially in 1965 when it merged with the former Bank of British West Africa, which had branches in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Gambia.
The Chartered Bank
Image:Calcutta agency of Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China.gif The Chartered Bank is the older bank, having been found in 1853 following the grant of a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria. It opened its first branches in 1858 in Calcutta and Bombay and soon after in Shanghai. The following year, it opened a branch in Hong Kong and an agency was opened in Singapore which was later upgraded to a branch. The bank opened offices across Asia from the 1860s through the 1900s, and in the early 1900s became the first foreign bank to gain a license to operate in New York.
In 1957, the Chartered Bank acquired the Eastern Bank, giving it a network of branches in Aden, Bahrain, Beirut, Cyprus, Lebanon, Qatar and the UAE.
Post-merger history
In 1969, a decision was made by the Standard Bank and the Chartered Bank to undergo a friendly merger, thus forming Standard Chartered PLC.
Following the merger, Standard Chartered acquired the UK-based Hodge group and the Wallace Brothers Group. Offices were opened across Europe, Argentina, Canada, Panama, Nepal and USA. Standard Chartered also acquired three US banks including the Union Bank of California, which gave it access to Brazil and Venezuela.
In the late 1980s, Lloyds Bank of the UK launched a hostile takeover bid for Standard Chartered, but this was resisted. The bid was subsequently defeated.
During the 1990s, Standard Chartered continued to expand its network, opening in Vietnam in 1990, Cambodia and Iran in 1992, Tanzania in 1993 and Myanmar in 1995.
On April 15, 2005, the bank acquired Korea First Bank, beating HSBC in the bid, since when the branches have been rebranded as SC First Bank.
Position today
Image:StanChart Singapore.JPG Today the bank is a leading player throughout the developing world.
As of 2006, the bank employs 44,000 people encompassing 89 nationalities across 1,200 locations, in more than 50 countries in Asia, Africa, UK and the Americas.
Standard Chartered Bank is one of the three banks issuing banknotes for Hong Kong, the other two being the Bank of China (Hong Kong) and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.
The bank supports marathons in key cities such as Dubai, Lahore and Mumbai.
On 28 March 2006, Singapore-based Temasek Holdings acquired the 11.55% share of Standard Chartered owned by the estate of the late billionaire Khoo Teck Puat. Temasek Holdings did not disclose the terms of purchase; it was sold for £2.3 billion or US$4 billion. [1] Before the acquisition, Temasek owned 0.07% of ordinary shares directly and indirectly; the acquisition makes it the largest shareholder in the British-based bank.
