Cote d’Ivoire

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.

In the difficult climate, Standard Chartered played an important role in maintaining faith in the banking system, as well as providing the government with structured facilities to meet temporary liquidity problems.

“Political instability and persistent civil unrest have affected business activities,” says CEO Serge-Phillipe Bailly. “Our intention is to remain focused on our target market and industries and we will work with all our business partners to offer value propositions that will enable us to recognise revenue opportunities while clearly identifying operational and credit risks involved. That said, the future for the bank will depend on the speed at which the economy returns back to a normal state of affairs.”