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Standard Bank Targets Intra-African Trade for Earnings Growth

  • Lender will offer technology to facilitate cross-border flows
  • African free trade zone creates $3.4 trillion market
Standard Bank's Mobile Banking Operations In South African Townships

Photographer: Nadine Hutton/Bloomberg

Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest lender, plans to take advantage of the continental free-trade agreement signed earlier this year for future growth, Chief Executive Officer for Africa Sola David-Borha said.

The Johannesburg-based firm, 20% owned by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., is increasing revenue by expanding its businesses across the continent, against the backdrop of anemic economic growth in its home market. It’s eyeing a bigger slice of the $147 billion a year of bilateral trade between Africa and China.