Standard will open in South Sudan - Business Day

FEARS of an all-out-war with Sudan have not dissuaded from formally opening its South Sudan branch within days.

Standard Bank Africa CEO Chris Newson has said: "We have been doing business and supporting the government of South Sudan since 2004. Given its independence, we thought it was an ideal opportunity to formalise that relationship and help contribute to the country’s development and growth."

The official opening of a significant branch and headquarters in Juba, South Sudan’s commercial hub, is expected in the next few days. Opening a branch and office in oil-rich South Sudan would give Standard Bank an opportunity to advise on energy deals in the new country and facilitate project finance on much-needed infrastructure.

"We are sensible corporate citizens. We have a reputation and financial interests to look after," Mr Newson said. The South Sudan branch will operate under the banner of Standard Bank’s Kenyan operation, CFC Stanbic Bank, he said. The plan is to leverage off the Kenyan banking infrastructure while the South Sudan banking system is being developed.

Standard Bank is the first southern African bank to move into South Sudan and after this entrée, the bank will have a presence in 18 African countries, including SA.

"We will leverage off the first-mover advantage. Hopefully, we will have a bit of a head start by moving in now," Mr Newson said. The opening in South Sudan forms part of the bank’s strategy to position itself as the banker of choice in Africa. Standard Bank, which is Africa’s largest bank by assets and earnings, said it had received all approvals allowing it to conduct retail and investment banking activities in South Sudan.

Standard Bank’s investment banking unit has expertise in the gas, oil and energy sector and has won awards for its expertise in this area of advice. "We certainly see oil and energy as a sector that we will be targeting, from advising and helping to get the projects up and running to getting the finance in place. It (South Sudan) is clearly strategic in the sense that it’s a new territory, a new country, and it has significant opportunities," Mr Newson said.

South Sudan got its independence from the Sudanese government in Khartoum last year. But although it is resource rich it has been affected by political violence over oil resources. On the question of risk, Mr Newson said Standard Bank thought carefully about where and how it invested. He said the bank carefully monitored the environments it operated in.

Mr Newson said Standard Bank was targeting greater scale in a number of countries, but particularly markets such as Nigeria and Angola. In Angola, Standard Bank has five branches and is looking at opening more. It got its Angolan licence 18 months ago. It has 514 branches in the rest of Africa, excluding SA.

Mr Newson said the bank’s strategy in Africa was not just about bricks and mortar, but more about the capital that needed to be deployed to get good returns. The plan for Africa is to grow organically, but it will also consider acquisitions if the right opportunity arises.

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