The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited is a South African financial services group and is Africa’s biggest lender by assets. The company's corporate headquarters, Standard Bank Centre, is situated in Simmonds Street, Johannesburg.
The bank now known as Standard Bank was formed in 1862 as a South African subsidiary of the British overseas bank Standard Bank, under the name The Standard Bank of South Africa.
The bank's origins can be traced to 1862, when a group of businessmen led by the prominent South African politician John Paterson formed a bank in London, initially under the name Standard Bank of British South Africa.
The bank started operations in 1863 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and soon after opening it merged with several other banks including the Commercial Bank of Port Elizabeth, the Colesberg Bank, the British Kaffrarian Bank and the Fauresmith Bank.
It was prominent in financing and development of the diamond fields of Kimberley in 1867. The word "British" was dropped from the title in 1883.
Until 1962 the British bank was formally known as the Standard Bank of South Africa, although by then its operations spread across Africa. When the South African operations were formed into a subsidiary in 1962, the parent changed its name to Standard Bank Limited, and the South African subsidiary took its parent's previous name.
The parent bank merged in 1969 with Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China and the combined bank became known as Standard Chartered Bank.
Standard Bank’s presence in and connection with, global financial centres enables it to facilitate investment and development flows in Africa, and access to international capital to facilitate growth, diversification and development in Africa. Standard Bank also have a strategic partnership with the largest bank in the world, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), who is a 20% shareholder in the group.
In 2005 Standard Bank was rated as having the lowest bank charges in South Africa. By 2010 that had changed, to the extent that Standard Bank was rated by Finweek’s review of SA bank charges as having amongst the highest bank charges in the country. A report by Afriforum confirmed Standard Bank's position as having the highest bank charges in the country along with Absa Bank.
According to wikipedia & standardbank.com
