The Standard Bank Group, one of South Africa’s largest and most successful banks, only recently gave fresh impetus to its drive into the rest of Africa. This re-energised its continental focus in a way that was as much about entering new markets as it was about ensuring that its offerings in other African countries were improved to meet home market standards. Standard Bank Namibia has benefited from the group’s Best Bank Enhancement Project, and in doing so strengthened its proposition to customers and improved its internal operations.
Specific internal initiatives included expansion of the ATM network (which is significant in a country such as Namibia, which has a low population density); centralisation of all lending decisions to head office, thus lowering risk; and successfully looking for cross-selling opportunities, particularly off the bank’s home loan products. Investment in training also helped the bank to deliver superior customer service.
The improvement is evident in the bank’s results, which showed a 10% increase in net profits and an 18.5% increase in assets in 2004. That is impressive in view of 1.3% and 2% rise in profits and assets respectively the year before, and economic growth in the country of 4.4% in 2004.
