Standard Chartered PLC on Thursday laid out plans to ‘simplify’ its operations in Africa & the Middle East in an attempt to ‘deliver efficiencies’ and ‘reduce complexity’.

The FTSE 100-listed lender said it will redirect resources within its Africa & Middle East business to ‘those areas where it can have the greatest scale and growth potential, in order to better support its clients.’

‘Subject to regulatory approval, the group now intends to exit onshore operations in seven markets in AME and in a further two markets focus solely on its Corporate, Commercial & Institutional Banking business,’ StanChart explained.

The seven markets StanChart expects to make be a full exit from are Angola, Cameroon, Gambia, Jordan, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe.

In Tanzania and Ivory Coast, the bank will exit its Consumer, Private & Business Banking businesses and the focus will turn solely to CCIB.

It added: ‘The group remains focused on serving its clients where it can make the most impact. The group will continue to serve corporate and institutional clients and facilitate cross-border capital flows and offshore business in all the above markets from its international network.’

StanChart noted it is active in 59 markets and serves clients in a further 83, and pointed out Thursday’s move represents about 1% of its income in 2021 and a similar proportion of pretax profit.

Chief Executive Bill Winters said: ‘As we set out earlier in the year, we are sharpening our focus on the most significant opportunities for growth while also simplifying our business. We remain excited by a number of opportunities we see in the AME region, as illustrated by our new markets, but remain disciplined in our assessment of where we can deliver significantly improved shareholder returns.

‘Collectively, our actions will position the AME franchise for the next phase of growth after a very strong 2021 performance. We are grateful to our colleagues and partners in each of these impacted markets for their hard work and dedication and are committed to supporting them through this transition.’

Shares in Standard Chartered were 0.9% higher in London on Thursday mid-morning at 506.80 pence each.

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