Standard Chartered Bank
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Location: 5 Speke Road Kampala Uganda  Standard Chartered Bank launches ‘Here for Africa’ campaign Standard Chartered Bank Uganda has Wednesday launched a new campaign aimed at re-affirming the bank’s commitment to invest in Africa. The ‘Here for Africa’ campaign is set to be rolled out with a series of activities over the period.It looks to exploiting Africa’s potetial by supporting key sectors such as infrastructure, telecommunications, transport, retail and trade.Standard Chartered Bank has a footprint of 16 African markets over the last 150 years. It services over one million retail customers across the continent and over 20,000 commercial, corporate and institutional clients. Razia Khan the Group’s chief Economist for Africa noted that; “Africa is a key emerging market globally and a continent on the rise with vast financial and business opportunities.”“We believe in forging new partnerships which deliver tangible value for not only our clients but all member African economies,” Khad added during a news conference at the Standard Chartered Bank head office in Kampala. Read more ▪ Standard Chartered net profit drops by 86% Standard Chartered has registered one of its steepest declines in profit as the banks provision for bad and doubtful debts tripled. The banks total comprehensive income has dropped by 86% to just sh15b. A quick glance at the banks financial books reveals that despite an increase in incomes by sh29b to sh419b; total expenditure galloped by sh136b to sh379b to set up the bank for a steep drop in profit. Behind the monumental rise in expenditure was a triple increase in the provision for bad and doubtful debts to sh118.5b from sh36b the year before. This was in spite of the fact that non-performing loans and assets actually declined by sh6b.The bank registered a sh19.4b drop in other incomes. Other comprehensive income registered a negative sh13b and other operating expenses rose by sh43b to further condemn profits.The courts of law have granted Standard Chartered rights to sell off Steel Rolling Mills, the largest steel manufacturing firm in Uganda, to recover a loan amounting to more than sh51.2b. The bank offered Steel Rolling Mills two amalgamated loan facilities amounting to about sh18b and $10 million respectively. Steel Rolling Mills had jointly sought for temporary relief alongside Nyumba Ya Chuma and Scrap Processors. Read more ▪ SCB: Economic challenges that President Museveni must address As the curtain – at least for now – is drawn on the general elections, the economic environment still looks subdued. Often, as with elections, the business community takes a wait-and-see approach. With the election over and swearing ceremony still two months away, the economy needs a reboot as indicators are mixed. Commodity prices have been increasing at a much slower pace, food prices have not surged and the Shilling remains stable. That is on the positive side. On the negative, the economy is slowing, interest rates are rising and the government is still borrowing at high rate. The election result, even as it is being disputed, came as no surprise to the bulk of investors and reports by several firms.The Standard and Poor’s ratings agency and Standard Chartered had pointed to a win by President Yoweri Museveni, which, in part, explains the stability of the Uganda Shilling, after election results were announced. Unlike the last general election, the economy, this time, appears to be set for a soft landing. Read more ▪ Standard Chartered to replace 24 ATMs over Cynthia Mpanga, the banks head of corporate affairs, brand and marketing declined to divulge the cost of the upgrades but said the process would take to complete. The initial ATMs have been in use. Mpanga says the new ATMs will be faster, more efficient, multi- functional and secure. “We are also doing our utmost to minimise any inconvenience to our clients by phasing out the old ATMs and working on 3 to 4 ATMS ,” she said. “At locations where we have more than one ATM, we only upgrade one and leave the other operational and also work on ATMs in spread out geographical locations to ensure we minimize impact on a particular community or area,” she adds. Read more ▪ SB: The boda boda economy defining the streets of Kampala At this rate, the boda boda business could be the second largest employer of Ugandans, at least according to Standard Bank reports. The report authored by Standard Bank analyst Simon Freemantle and economist Jeremy Stevens measured motorcycle exports from India to seven African countries including Nigeria, Angola, Uganda Egypt, Kenya, Guinea and Djibouti. The findings indicate Nigeria is the largest importer of motor cycles from India followed by Angola with Uganda coming in at third position.The bulk of Africa’s motorcycles are imported from India, which has a market share of more than 65 per cent. India manufactures the Bajaj Boxer and TVS brands, some of the most popular motorcycles across Africa and Uganda in particular. Uganda, according to the report, imported motorcycles worth Shs113.4b ($31) compared to Nigeria’s Shs746.4b ($204m) and Angola’s Shs204.9b ($59m). Read more ▪ SCB: Banks hike lending rates The weakening Shilling that hit a record low forcing commercial banks to review their lending rates.Standard Chartered Bank notified customers, that the lending rate would change from 20 per cent to 21.5 per cent. Dfcu also sent out a notice to customers announcing an increment in the lending rate from 21 per cent to 22 per cent effective.GT Bank also announced an increment of lending rates from 21.5 per cent to 22.5 per cent. Notably, these increments are only for loans in Uganda Shillings, a denomination most Ugandans borrow money. Read more ▪ SCB: Shilling slide expected to go on The Uganda shilling dropped close to 1% against the dollar, trading a few points off the record level of 2905 closing 2885/95 compared to the previous level 2865/75. The market witnessed a surge in corporate demand leading to the depreciation of the local unit. Yields on government bonds rose with issues coming in at 72 and 29 basis points higher to 16.68% and 17.4 respectively.Appetite for long dated bonds was seen increasing in the market and the trend is expected to be maintained. “We expect the shilling to reverse the losses in the trading in the 2875-2905 range,” a Standard Chartered report read.A Stanbic Bank report read: “The depreciation trend is likely to prevail over the next account of more anticipated dollar demand against a backdrop of relatively low dollar supply. ” Read more ▪ Standard Chartered Bank: Govt urged to streamline procurement processes Government has been urged to streamline its procurement processes to lower project costs.Speaking at the fifth annual chief executive officers’ summit in Kampala, Standard Chartered Bank managing director said the procurement processes in Uganda are a nightmare and require urgent attention as they increase the cost of service delivery.Drawing an example of the Bujagali Hydropower Project whose construction costs went up from the projected $580 million (about Shs1.5 trillion) initially to the final cost of $850 million (aboust Shs2.2 trillion), Mr Kasekende noted that delays in procurement is costly to companies that will undertake projects as it ultimately increases the costs involved.Read more ▪ Standard Chartered fined $300m over laundering controls The New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) said the British bank's internal compliance systems had failed to detect or act on a large number of "potentially high-risk transactions" mostly originating from Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.The new punishment came two years after the bank paid US regulators $667 million to settle charges it violated US sanctions by handling thousands of money transactions involving Iran, Myanmar, Libya and Sudan.A DFS monitor appointed to keep an eye on the bank discovered that it had not detected the allegedly high-risk transactions from Hong Kong and the UAE or reported them as it should have, the department said."If a bank fails to live up to its commitments, there should be consequences. That is particularly true in an area as serious as anti-money-laundering compliance, which is vital to helping prevent terrorism and vile human rights abuses," said DFS head Benjamin Lawsky.The department gave no information on the nature of the transactions, or whether or not they proved to involve laundering.Read more ▪ Standard Chartered bank 2013 net profit fell Standard Chartered bank said net profit fell more than 16 percent in 2013 and warned of a "challenging" first half for 2014 following significant challenges for its South Korean operations. The London-based lender, which makes 90 percent of its profits in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, said net profit was $3.99 billion last year, down 16.65 percent from $4.79 billion in 2012.Standard Chartered's South Korean retail bank suffered a $1.0 billion write-down in its value, and produced lower revenue with higher bad loans during the year, culminating in a $162 million operatingloss.Overall operating income fell one percent to $18.67 billion in 2013, compared to the previous year, while annual profit before tax was down 11 percent to $6.06 billion.The results follow a decade in which the bank posted consecutive full-year profits."2013 was a challenging year, for the industry and for Standard Chartered," said its chairman John Peace in a statement.The bank said bad loans across its operations had increased by 35 percent year-on-year to $1.62 billion. Read more ▪ Shilling to stay strong, experts say The Uganda Shilling has continued to exhibit its strength as dollar demand in the market remains relatively sluggish.By close of business yesterday, the shilling was trading at 2,462/2,472 against the US dollar, slightly stronger than it traded at the close of last week when it traded at 2,465/2,475.Speaking to the Daily Monitor, Standard Chartered Bank’s manager corporate affairs Herbert Zake said: “Looking ahead, we expect the Uganda Shilling to trade in recent ranges with support seen from continued lack of demand for the dollar.”Experts say the shilling’s strength is not a good sign for a country which is promoting her export industry and if the situation continues in favour of the local unit, the annual export value will definitely drop. Read more ▪ SCB: Shilling to remain stable against dollar, experts say Earlier this week, the Uganda Shilling appreciated against the United States dollar to trade below 2500.The local currency is expected to stay stable on the back of reduced corporate transactions and sizeable inflows in the form of capital injections. This means exporters have less money in their pocket while importers are making more orders because they have more cash on them.Standard Chartered Bank’s head of corporate affairs Herbert Zake said: “We expect the Shilling to hold as major businesses slow down ahead of the festive season.” Read more ▪ |