Despite a tentative peace deal that sets presidential elections for October, war-torn Cote d’Ivoire remains a difficult place in which to operate. Standard Chartered Bank has stuck to the basics, gradually growing its assets, maintaining deposit levels and reducing costs. As a result, it was able to report a more than three-fold increase in profits to $1.5m, improve its cost-to-income ratio and lift its ROE from 5.4% to 16.7%.
A standout feature for the judges was the bank’s ongoing efforts to offer customers new and better products and services, an investment in the bank’s offering despite the political uncertainty in the country. Innovations were in the area of short-term structured deals for multinational companies; agricultural loans and tailor-made solutions for development organisations and financial institutions.
