Standard Bank strengthens corporate and investment banking
On July 1st David Munro will take up his new role as Ceo of Standard Bank's Corporate and Investment banking business, but unlike his predecessors he will not have to move to London. Africa's biggest bank has decided to shift the position of CIB Ceo to Johannesburg and appointed Munro, who until now was head of the South African investment banking division.
The idea is for the CIB division to focus on deals in Africa, in line with Standard Bank's overall strategy to roll back expansion outside the continent. "Following the previously announced tightening of Standard Bank's group strategy, it has become clear that the head of (corporate and investment banking) should in future be based in Johannesburg rather than London," the bank said in a statement. Munro will report to Ben Kruger, deputy group Ceo.
Munro's predecessor Rob Leith, who had been the London-based CIB Ceo since 2008, will take up a new role as head of group strategic expansion and will report directly to group Ceo Jacko Maree. "We have to make sure there is a small team that is worrying about opportunities," Maree said. "Leith is a very experienced deal-doer in the bank and we want him to focus on that primarily."
In March the South African bank sold its stake in Russian investment bank Troika Dialog to Sberbank and it is now poised to sell its majority stake in SB Argentina to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which in turn owns 20% of Standard Bank. Profits from these sales will be used to make acquisitions in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, Angola, Ghana and Kenya.
"These are the big high-growth markets," says Maree. "We have got to keep growing because we can't continue to cut costs. We need to look to buy banks on the African continent." Khaya Gobodo, head of equities at Afena Capital in Johannesburg, says that "in a tough trading environment, it appears that the way to find growth is to buy it."
In 2010, after years of aggressive expansion, Standard Bank shocked the market by cutting over 2,000 jobs in its head offices in Johannesburg and London, but recently it has been hiring people in some key divisions and offering high salaries to secure top talent.
"SBG Securities, the group's stockbroking arm, is paying the highest overall packages in the market place," says Phryne Williams, managing director of Capital Assignments, a specialist financial services recruitment firm. "The international banks are able to compete but my sense is that they are paying in line with the market."
