Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania
It’s difficult to fault Standard Chartered Tanzania, which is again The Banker’schoice of best bank in the country. Despite a slightly cooler rise in profits in 2003 compared to the year before, the numbers are still respectable: net profits, the highest in the industry, were up 13%, assets grew by 11% and though it dipped somewhat, ROE at 32% was still impressive. What caught the judges’ attention was Standard Chartered’s ongoing efforts to develop the market through a combination of innovative new products and services, as well as working with the central bank, via chairmanship of the Tanzania Bankers Association, in terms of ‘soft’ infrastructure, such as policy. Standard Chartered leads the market in providing solutions to customers with regard to the risk they take on interest and exchange rates. The bank has developed solutions using new innovative products such as high yield deposits, options, foreign exchange swaps and fixed income products. The bank was the first to close a swap deal and foreign exchange option. “Our strategy is built on three key elements: continued innovation and excellence at service; deeper involvement in the largest sectors of the economy; and expansion of our distribution network to gain greater access to customers across Tanzania,” says CEO and MD Hemen Shah.