Standard Bank posts flat profit as problem ICBCS venture drags
JOHANNESBURG – Standard Bank, Africa’s largest lender by assets, posted flat full-year profit on Thursday, as losses deepened to $248 million at its struggling London-based joint venture with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
The South African-based lender’s stake in the venture is one of the last remaining relics of its failed bid to become a global emerging markets lender – a strategy it has been trying to unwind in recent years to refocus on its home continent.
Standard Bank reported a 1% rise in headline earnings per share – the main profit measure in South Africa – to 1,766.7 cents ($1.16) in the year to Dec. 31, compared with 1,748.4 cents a year earlier.
Source: iol.co.za
