The British banking group Standard Chartered Bank announced Thursday 14 avril to disengage from seven countries in Africa and the Middle East.
The bank is preparing to close its subsidiaries in Cameroon, Angola, Gambia, Jordan, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. This departure, following the group’s strategy to focus on more profitable and faster growing markets, will take the form of asset disposals.
The British bank’s biggest African market was Cameroon, where it has been established since 1986. Even following deciding a few years ago to focus solely on corporate clients, its activity has not really taken off.
According to BEAC data, for the month of January 2022, for example, the local subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank displays only 83.9 billion FCFA of loans to the economy, or only 1.94% of market share. Moreover, with just over CFAF 244 billion in deposits recorded in January, Standard Chartered Bank Cameroon trails its competitors with 3.91% market share.
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