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About Standard Chartered PLC
The Standard Chartered Group was formed in 1969 through a merger of two banks:
The Standard Bank of British South Africa founded in 1863 and the Chartered Bank
of India, Australia and China, founded in 1853.
Both companies were keen to capitalize on the huge expansion of trade and to
earn the handsome profits to be made from financing the movement of goods from
Europe to the East and to Africa.
The Chartered Bank
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Founded by James Wilson following the grant of a Royal Charter by Queen
Victoria in 1853.
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Chartered opened its first branches in Mumbai (Bombay), Calcutta and
Shanghai in 1858, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore in 1859.
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Traditional business was in cotton from Mumbai (Bombay), indigo and tea from
Calcutta, rice in Burma, sugar from Java, tobacco from Sumatra, hemp in
Manila and silk from Yokohama.
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Played a major role in the development of trade with the East which followed
the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the extension of the telegraph to
China in 1871.
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In 1957 Chartered Bank bought the Eastern Bank together with the Ionian
Bank's Cyprus Branches. This established a presence in the Gulf.
The Standard Bank
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Founded in the Cape Province of South Africa in 1862 by John Paterson.
Commenced business in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in January 1863.
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Was prominent in financing the development of the diamond fields of
Kimberley from 1867 and later extended its network further north to the new
town of Johannesburg when gold was discovered there in 1885.
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Expanded in Southern, Central and Eastern Africa and by 1953 had 600
offices.
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In 1965, it merged with the Bank of West Africa expanding its operations
into Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
In
1969, the decision was made by Chartered and by Standard to undergo a friendly
merger. All was going well until 1986, when a hostile takeover bid was made for
the Group by Lloyds Bank of the United Kingdom. When the bid was defeated,
Standard Chartered entered a period of change. Provisions had to be made against
third world debt exposure and loans to corporations and entrepreneurs who could
not meet their commitments. Standard Chartered began a series of divestments
notably in the United States and South Africa, and also entered into a number of
asset sales.
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