Standard
Chartered Bank Gambia recently held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the
Kairaba Beach Hotel.
Delivering
the chairman’s report, the bank’s board chairman, Momodou B.A. Senghore, said
2015 was a challenging year for the local economy following a series of
exogenous shocks in the tourism and agriculture sectors.
The
impact of these factors, coupled with significantly lower volume of foreign
currency transactions within the banking industry, was reflected in their
performance during this year, he said.
However,
he added, they maintained their strategic focus on the basics of banking and in
a very challenging period delivered a creditable result.
The
bank’s profit before tax was GMD103 million, operation was GMD 518 million and
income earned was 32 bututs, he declared.
“We
are recommending a dividend of 24 bututs per share after making adjustment for
statutory reserve,” he further announced.
“Despite
a subdued global economy resulting from continued damping of commodity price
and slowdown in the Chinese economy, our outlook for 2016 in domestic market is
optimistic.
“We are expecting that the recovery in the
tourism sector and improved agriculture output will drive economic growth in
2016,” board chairman Senghore went on.
Mr
Senghore added: “In spite of challenging market conditions, I believe we remain
in excellent shape to support our clients, and the growth opportunities for the
business remain compelling. We also continued to embody what it means to be
here for good.
“We
are taking steps to secure the foundation of our bank by re-focusing our
corporate and institution banking business towards delivering higher return by
optimizing the use of capital.
“Our
leaner organization structure has made us well-positioned to take advantage of
the domestic economic growth opportunities expected in 2018.”
According
to chairman Senghore, in 2015 Standard Chartered Bank as a group announced a
refreshed strategy designed to make the bank more resilient to external shocks,
and was able to deliver better and more sustainable results.
“Our bank is today with a more liquid balance
sheet than before,” he continued
“As
the Group strengthens its focus on Africa as a powerhouse region, we are
well-positioned to benefit from increased investments in our regions, people
and systems,” he said.
Also
speaking on the occasion, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Albert Saltson,
said despite a challenging external environment, the bank continued to invest
in improving operations for future growth.
“In
2015, we successfully enabled all of the bank’s ATMs to accept transactions
from MasterCard cardholders. This was a significant achievement for the bank,
making us one of the first banks to offer these services in the local market,”
CEO Salton said.
Similarly,
he added, the bank invested to upgrade five of their existing ATMs with newer,
modern models capable of delivering cash disbursement at a fraction of the
speed of older models.
The
ATM replacement project is due for completion in early 2016, he announced.
According
to the CEO, the bank further invested in expanding their digital footprint by
introducing the straight 2Bank transaction initiation platform, capable of
delivering an end digital transaction processing service to corporate and
institutional banking clients.
He
said the first of its kind in The Gambia, strength 2Bank has been piloted with
a small group of clients who have already seen a significant improvement in
quality of service delivered.
As
the platform is rolled out to more clients in 2016, these benefits will be felt
more broadly by all clients within the corporate and institutional banking
segment.
On
building a bank of the future, the SCB CEO said the bank had made significant
strides towards reducing and simplifying their processes, while at the same
time investing in digital services.
“We
are confident that we have the right mix to deliver revenue and performance
into the future.
“As
we look forward to 2016 and beyond, we are well-positioned to achieve our
strategic priorities, as we secure the foundation of our bank by ensuring we do
business the right way, with the right clients to deliver better value for our
stakeholders.”
Source: www.independent.ie
