(For news from the Reuters Africa Investment Summit, click here)
* Exploring entry into Senegal, S.Sudan, Mozambique and
Ethiopia
* To add more than 100 new branches by 2015
* Islamic finance up
(Adds details, quotes)
By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Enos Phosa
JOHANNESBURG, April 18 (Reuters) – Standard Chartered
aims to double its African revenues to $2.5 billion in
the next five years and is mulling opportunities in fast-growing
economies such as Senegal, its head of Europe, the Middle East
and Africa said on Wednesday.
The London-based emerging markets lender spans Asia and
Africa, but lacks exposure to slow-growing European markets or
U.S. subprime mortgages, making it one of few Western banks with
the money to expand operations in the under-served continent.
“If my business was $1.3 billion last year, my aspiration
and ambition is that within the next four to five years, that
gets to $2.5 billion, roughly double,” V. Shankar told the
Reuters Africa Investment Summit.
The growth will entail increasing headcount past the current
7,000 and adding an extra 100 branches across the continent by
2015 from 160 presently, he said in an interview at Reuters
offices in Johannesburg.
Continued…
