Standard Chartered sells Jordan business as part of global strategy

Standard Chartered

UK-based Standard Chartered will sell its business in Jordan to Arab Jordan Investment Bank (AJIB), the banks said in a joint statement.

Under the agreement, Standard Chartered’s corporate, commercial and institutional banking and consumer, private and business banking businesses in Jordan will be migrated to AJIB.

All Standard Chartered Bank Jordan’s employees will be transferred to AJIB, the statement said, adding the two banks will work closely in the coming months to complete the transition of its clients and staff.

Standard Chartered’s Africa and Middle East CEO Sunil Kaushal said the agreement is aligned with the bank’s global strategy “to deliver efficiencies, reduce complexity, as well as redirect resources within the Africa Middle East region to areas with the greatest potential to drive scale, grow and better support clients.”

AJIB said the purchase falls within the Jordanian lender’s strategy to grow its market share in the country, which continues to grow after it acquired HSBC’s banking business in Jordan in 2014 and the National Bank of Kuwait’s banking business in Jordan in 2022.

Hani Al-Qadi, chairman, AJIB, stated that the regulatory authorities have already approved the agreement.

In April 2022, Standard Chartered announced plans to leave seven markets: Angola, Cameroon, Gambia, Jordan, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe.

The move aims to exit markets where the bank is sub-scale as it narrows its focus to faster-growing markets in the region, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.