The Standard Chartered Bank Group last week announced that it had won one regional and six country awards at The Bankers Awards 2007 which is a major recognition of the Bank’s achievements this year.
The awards included a major regional award, Bank of the Year in Africa 2007. The country awards were for the best bank in Afghanistan, Botswana, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia in 2007.
The Chief Executive Officer of Standard Bank Botswana, David Cutting, said that they were very delighted to receive this award from The Banker, which represents the successful culmination of the efforts of the whole team.
“Our mission is to ‘Lead the Way in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.’ The Banker conferring this Best Bank award on Standard Chartered Bank Botswana is an encouraging and prestigious confirmation that we are moving in the right direction to achieve this ambition,” he said.
According to the Standard Chartered Botswana, the franchise is growing very fast. He said four agencies of Mahalapye and Palapye have recently been upgraded to full branches and plans are underway to add 20 new automated teller machines (ATMs) in various parts of the country.
Other developments which pushed the bank in terms of rankings include premium banking Excel Centers, a 24ÔÇôhour Customer Call Center, a Loan Center and mobile Direct Sales Representative.
He said although consumer banking continues to be the engine of growth, the wholesale banking has also registered improved performances across all products.
Further, Cutting explained that better customer service is a determining factor in gaining competitive advantage. He said through staff engagement and development efforts their recently published nine months results for 2007 reflect healthy year-on-year growth on the back of record results in 2006.
“We continue to lead the way in a host of innovative initiatives in both wholesale and consumer Banking. We also participate in community initiatives which contribute to building a sustainable business,” he stated.
Peter Sands, Standard Chartered Group’s Chief Executive, pointed out that Standard Chartered’s strategic intent is to lead the way in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. According to Sands, the Banker Awards 2007 recognize Standard Chartered’s leading positions and achievements in these markets. He expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Standard Chartered employees for their hard work and the customers for allowing them to serve them.
Standard Chartered has been operating in Africa for more than 140 years and currently has over 140 branches in 13 African countries – well positioned to take advantage of the growing trade corridors both Intra-Africa and between Africa and Asia.
