Standard Bank Group Ltd. plans to double its West African business through 2030 as Africa’s biggest lender seeks to capitalize on economic reforms and faster growth in Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast.
The Johannesburg-based bank wants its earnings from the region, currently roughly half the size of its South African operations, to grow to about the same scale as its home market, said Luvuyo Masinda, its head of corporate and investment banking.
“One of the things we will want is that for this west Africa region to as quickly as possible be the same size as South African business,” he said in an interview. “If you speak to the teams here, they have an ambition to double this business in the next four years.”
Nigeria, which is West Africa’s biggest economy and the continent’s most populous nation, is attracting investors into its abundant natural resources and infrastructure sectors, after reforms in the foreign-exchange market, macroeconomy and energy industry boosted investor confidence and unlocked value in the country’s assets.
The same prospects seen in Nigeria are replicated in Ivory Coast — one of the region’s fastest-growing economies — and in Ghana, recovering from a 2022 to 2023 sovereign-debt default and seeing stabilizing inflation, lower interest rates and a steadier local currency.
Standard Bank has headroom to grow by tapping the opportunities opening in West Africa, according to Masinda.
“When we think about our own business as Standard Bank Group, we believe we are slightly sub-scale for the opportunities that exist in this market,” he said.
The lender wants to invest in and structure deals in the region’s power, renewables, ports and hard infrastructure sectors, taking advantage of the parent’s balance sheet and accessing global capital through offices in New York, Dubai, London and Beijing, Masinda said.
It’s also looking to make new hires in the region and leverage fintech to grow retail and small- to medium-sized business clientele, he said.
Improved regulatory environments in nations with floating, transparent exchange rates and predictability on monetary policy are bringing in financing and private equity.
“It’s happening not just in Nigeria, it’s happening in a number of other countries,” he said. “That, more than anything, is attractive to capital.”
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