Standard Chartered
.svg) | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| ISIN | GB0004082847  |
| Industry | Finance and Insurance |
| Predecessor | National Bank of India Standard Bank |
| Founded | 1853 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
Key people | Bryan Sanderson, CBE - Chairman |
| Products | Financial Services |
Number of employees | 38,000 |
| Website | www.standardchartered.com |
Standard Chartered Bank LSE: STAN, SEHK: 2888 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 makes more than 30% of its profit from its market in Hong Kong in 2004. It is however, a large British company, quotated on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index of leading British companies.
History
Standard Chartered Bank was formed through the merger of two British overseas banks: the Standard Bank of British South Africa and The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China. The Chartered Bank is the older bank having been found in 1853 following the grant of a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria. The Chartered Bank opened its first branches in 1858 in Calcutta and Bombay and soon after in Shanghai. The following year, the Chartered Bank opened a branch in Hong Kong and an agency was opened in Singapore which was later upgraded to a branch. The Chartered Bank opened offices across Asia from the 1860s through the 1900s. The Chartered Bank in the early 1900s became the first foreign bank to gain a license to operate in New York.
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.
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.
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.
In 1969, a decision was made by the Standard Bank and the Chartered Bank to undergo a friendly merger thus forming Standard Chartered PLC.
Standard Chartered subsequently acquired the UK-based Hodge group and the Wallace Brothers Group. After the creation of Standard Chartered PLC, offices were opened across Europe, Argentina, Canada, Panama, Nepal and USA. Standard Chartered acquired 3 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 of Standard Chartered. The bank resisted the hostile bid, which was subsequently defeated.
Standard Chartered continued expanding its network in the 1990s, opening in Vietnam in 1990, Cambodia and Iran in 1992, Tanzania in 1993 and Myanmar in 1995.
Position today
Today the bank is a leading player throughout the developing world.
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 recently acquired Korea First Bank beating HSBC for the bid.
Standard Chartered Scope International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank, India.
As of 2005, the bank employs 38,000 people of more than 80 nationalities in 950 locations in more than 50 countries in Asia, Africa, UK and the Americas.
