Standard Bank Group - Afrikan Heroes

Standard Bank Group Commended for Women Empowerment

June 25, 2021

Africa‘s biggest bank, Standard Bank has been commended for its preeminent role in women’s empowerment across the continent and also extending its corporate social responsibility towards the fighting Covid-19 in Africa. The commendation came after it was named African Bank of the Year in recognition of the banking giant’s achievements in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and empowering women.

African Banker magazine announced the winners of its 2021 Awards at a virtual ceremony held on the side-lines of the African Development Bank’s 2021 Annual Meetings. The African Development Bank is a high patron of the event.

The 2021 virtual event featured performances by African diva Angelique Kidjo and Adina, a Ghanaian-South African singer. The award for African Banker of the Year went, for the second consecutive year, to Hebert Wigwe, Managing Director and co-founder of Access Bank Group, which has grown rapidly to become one of the largest retail banks in Africa over the last decade, with over 40 million customers.

The 2021 edition of the awards set out to recognize institutions that have contributed to women’s empowerment on the continent and to the real economy, which has suffered from the impact of Covid-19.

Morocco’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Mohammed Benchaâboun, was named Finance Minister of the Year in recognition of his ministry’s exemplary response to the economic crisis brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Omar Ben Yedder, Group Publisher of African Banker, commended the banking sector for its responsiveness to clients’ needs, and for setting up gender programs, supporting women-led businesses and promoting women within their organizations.

“Fintechs are really the flavor of the year and we’ve seen plenty of money from venture capital, from private equity wealth, going into the fintech space in Egypt, Kenya and in Nigeria, and to some extent crypto and blockchain, although those are at very early stages,” Ben Yedder said. The continued strength and resilience of the banking sector would be critical to support economic recovery from the pandemic across Africa, he said.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Standard Bank Partners Microsoft to Boost Innovation and Drive Growth in Africa

June 18, 2021

Standard Bank Group Chief Executive, Sim Tshabalala

One of Africa’s leading financial powerhouses, Standard Bank Group and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the digital transformation of Africa’s largest financial institution and further drive the continent’s growth.The Bank’s growing investment in the Microsoft Cloud will enable the innovation, efficiencies, and resilience required to respond to market dynamics and customer needs.

This partnership builds on the 30-year relationship between the two companies and involves migrating workloads, applications, and platforms to Microsoft Azure to drive organisational efficiencies, as well as workforce collaboration with Azure, PowerApps, Workplace Analytics and Microsoft Teams.

“Investing in the cloud will allow Standard Bank to achieve its strategy to transform from a traditional financial services company into a digital platform company, providing financial services, plus ancillary and associated services. We have adopted a cloud-first strategy, underpinned by end-to-end security and data-driven insights that will enable transformation with tangible results,” says Standard Bank Group Chief Executive, Sim Tshabalala.

“Standard Bank’s cloud-first strategy underlines the growing momentum in financial services to deliver differentiated experiences that today’s customers expect,” said Judson Althoff, Microsoft’s executive vice president of Worldwide Commercial Business.

“As a long-standing technology partner, we are pleased to collaborate with Standard Bank in realizing this strategy and in becoming Africa’s future-first financial services firm through digital skilling-focused initiatives that will expand economic opportunity for young people across Africa.”

As part of the partnership, the companies will also: Establish the African Digital Foundry (The Foundry), a strategic alliance, for Standard Bank and Microsoft to collaborate to co-create unique solutions through new technology to meet the financial needs of Africa’s consumers. Through the Foundry, the companies aspire to reach 100 million customers in Africa over the next five years.

Bring together their resources and know-how to provide youth with the relevant digital skills needed to secure future-ready jobs and equip Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with digital skills and capabilities so that they can take advantage of the growing shift to digital technologies.

Standard Bank and Microsoft, through the Foundry, will co-create and execute joint go-to-market digital services related to trade, payment, and risk-based (lending and insurance) solutions. They will also develop ecosystems enabling digital trading to facilitate Africa’s growth.

“The Foundry is a digital initiative established in Africa, for Africans, to address the unique challenges the continent faces with customised innovations, services and solutions,” says Tshabalala

“The partnership will further enhance and create ongoing collaboration between our firms around co-engineering solutions for African consumers’ unique needs.”

Harnessing the power and reach of both organisations, the partnership will also drive digital skills development, boost youth employment, and accelerate the growth of SMEs on the African continent.

Both organisations believe that digital transformation represents an opportunity for the continent to leap ahead, taking a leading role in enabling economic and societal growth in Africa.

Microsoft and Standard Bank will leverage their combined research, industry, partner and start-up programmes to impact the continent – where similar opportunities and challenges exist – using technology such as mixed reality and artificial intelligence.

“Continuing to build on the partnership is part of the ongoing journey that Standard Bank and Microsoft are on to invest in digital transformation as the enabler of meaningful and tangible innovation. Our journey is underpinned by collaborative efforts to develop, scale and roll out digital solutions that will deliver personalised services to 100 million Africans and by meeting their unique and evolving needs and demands,” says Tshabalala.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

African government debt: A constraint on capital markets activity By Megan McDonald

September 29, 2020

Megan McDonald, Head of international investment banking at Standard Bank Group

In the US and other developed economies, capital markets are a hive of activity as companies and governments take advantage of low interest rates and stimulus programmes to raise funding. While there are some expectations that sub-Saharan Africa’s debt and equity markets will follow suit in the months ahead, this may not materialise, partly because global investors are gravitating towards safe-haven assets.

Awash with liquidity thanks to near-zero interest rates and a multi-trillion-dollar stimulus programme, the US is experiencing record levels of capital markets activity. Corporates are on a share-selling spree, with a record $60bn raised on US equity markets in May, according to Reuters. And April was the biggest month ever for new bond issuances by investment-grade companies in the country, according to data from Refinitiv.

But this trend – highlighted in the financial results of major global banks – might not be replicated in Africa, even though interest rates have been lowered and central banks have taken other steps to boost liquidity.

For one, many African governments are saddled with debt and simply do not have the same firepower for stimulus measures as developed markets. African governments have traditionally used debt capital markets to raise substantial amounts of funding, but the broader macroeconomic challenges, such as rising debt-to-GDP levels which have been exacerbated by the pandemic, have driven yields higher – making the pricing of new issuances in the international debt capital markets relatively unattractive.

African governments have therefore turned towards attracting funding from alternative sources such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and development finance institutions, rather than debt capital markets, as they respond to the crisis. At the same time, emerging markets globally are seeing strong capital outflows as investors turn towards safe-haven assets to mitigate volatility and uncertainty. Emerging markets – most notably the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – have become riskier for investors given that they dominate the list of countries with the highest COVID-19 infection rates.

Risk Aversion

While Africa’s debt capital markets offer yield-hungry investors better returns than in developed markets, this is being overshadowed by risk aversion and heightened currency risks. African corporates are also less likely than their US counterparts to raise substantial amounts of funding via debt capital markets, as they are mostly not investment-grade rated. There are several notable corporate debt issuances in the pipeline, but we are unlikely to see the same record levels of activity.

African companies are also far more reliant on bank financing than those in developed markets, and this is being highlighted amid the COVID-19 crisis. Similarly, equity issuances out of sub-Saharan Africa could be relatively muted. Several initial public offerings (IPOs) have already been shelved as growth-focused companies suspend their expansion plans in favour of capital preservation and financial stability.

Numerous South African corporates have announced rights offers and accelerated bookbuilds to shore up capital so they can weather the storm. However, investors will be particularly selective in the corporates they back, with a preference for resilient business models and companies in high-growth sectors which are thriving in the pandemic, including telecommunications and technology firms.

Africa-focused Helios Towers, for instance, was well supported by global investors when it issued a Eurobond in June and completed an accelerated bookbuild. The company, which develops and operates telecommunications infrastructure across the continent, issued Eurobonds worth $750m to refinance existing debts at better rates and to raise fresh capital.

While the order book grew to more than $3bn, Helios ultimately placed bonds worth $750m due 2025, at an attractive coupon rate of 7%. Demand was driven by asset managers and other institutional investors, mainly in the UK and US.

This shows that international investors remain interested in the African growth story, but are more closely scrutinising investment opportunities on the continent. That caution, in turn, will likely keep capital markets activity in check in the months ahead.

Megan McDonald Head of international investment banking at Standard Bank Group

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry