CEO Today Africa Awards

77 www.ceotodaymagazine.com CEO Today Africa Awards 2019 SOUTH AFRICA SIM TSHABALALA Group chief executive, SBG and executive director, SBSA Standard Bank FIRM PROFILE A. Standard Bank Group is the largest African banking group by assets, with a market cap of approximately R318 billion (USD23 billion) at 30 June 2019, offering a range of banking and related financial services across sub-Saharan Africa. Our strategy is to be an African focused, client-centred, digitally enabled universal financial services organisation, which drives Africa’s growth and creates value for all our stakeholders. Our clients are at the centre of everything we do. This is our central organising principle in building a digitally enabled universal financial services organisation. It aligns our efforts to change the way we do things, develop our people and shift our culture, and ultimately create a sustainable competitive advantage in a changing industry. We have a 156-year history in South Africa, and started building a franchise in sub- Saharan Africa almost 30 years ago. We have an on-the-ground presence in 20 countries on the African continent, and solid local knowledge required to operate a successful business in Africa. Our presence in and connection with, global financial centres enables us to facilitate investment and development flows in Africa, and access to international capital to facilitate growth, diversification and development in Africa. We 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. The long-term foreign currency ratings for The Standard Bank of South Africa, the single largest operating entity within the Standard Bank Group, are: Fitch Ratings BB+ (stable) and Moody’s Baa3 (Rating under review). Click here to read more on credit ratings. The group is listed on the JSE and A2X, with share code SBK, and the Namibian Stock Exchange, share code SNB. We subscribe to the Code of Banking Practice, a set of principles governing banking in South Africa and ensuring the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and fairness. Our Strategy The ultimate test of the group’s strategy is whether it will enable us to deliver superior ROE and sustainable growth in earnings- either immediately or in the very near future, and whether superior performance will be sustained over the long term. We refreshed our strategy during the year to express this goal more explicitly, and to provide a strategic construct to guide the execution of the group strategy within our business units and enabling functions. Each of them are responsible for ensuring that their plans are aligned with the group strategy and values. ABOUT SIM TSHABALALA Sim Tshabalala joined the group in 2000 in the project finance division of SCMB and was appointed to group exco in 2001. Between 2001 and 2006, he was managing director of Stanbic Africa, and was appointed chief executive of PBB in 2006. In June 2008, he was appointed chief executive of SBSA. In March 2013, he was appointed joint group chief executive of SBG, a position he held alongside Ben Kruger until Ben stepped down in September 2017. He resigned as chief executive of SBSA in January 2018. www.standardbank.com