By Politico staff writer
Standard Chartered Bank Sierra Leone has informed its customers of an agreement for the sale of the Bank franchise in Sierra Leone to Access Bank Plc (Access).
“This sale is subject to regulatory approval. With this announcement, we have moved to the final execution stage of the sale,” the official notice letter to their customers read in part.
This follows an announcement in April 2022 by the British Bank to divest from markets across the Africa & Middle East Region including Sierra Leone.
The Bank in the latest letter to their customers regarding the decision said that they received strong interest from several credible, reputable, and sophisticated regional and local banks in the impacted markets, with bidders expressing a desire to invest significantly in expanding their businesses through this exercise.
The Sierra Leone branch assured its customers of a smooth transition process “During this stage of final execution, all our products, services and banking channels will operate seamlessly. We don’t anticipate any changes to the products, services and terms & conditions,” it reads.
However, it noted that the new buyers will communicate any future change that may come up.
In relation to security concerns expressed by the bank’s employees and customers, the bank was quoted by Reuters to have in a statement assured that Access Bank will provide full range of banking services “and continuity for key stakeholders including employees and clients of Standard Chartered’s businesses across the five aforementioned countries (Gambia, Angola, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone).
The value of the deal is yet to be disclosed but that the completion of the deal is in advance stage.
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