Standard Chartered Bank Zambia one of the […]

Standard Chartered Bank Zambia one of the banks listed on the Lusaka Securities Exchange—LuSE, is reported to have recorded a drop in profit by 36% year-on-year. A renowned securities broker has attributed the reduction in the company’s financial performance to the company selling off its retail banking.

 According to information made available to Zambian Business Time, ZBT shows that the bank’s profit after tax was recorded at K103 million, down by 36% yearon-year, as the bank’s revenue decreased by 6% to K631 million due to lower interest and non-interest at income from reduced corporate asset utilization and wealth solutions fees.

Further, total assets decreased 15% to K14.1 billion primarily due to kwacha appreciation and strategic reduction of foreign-currency placements, while customer deposits fell to K11.7 billion and loans and advances declined to K2.3 billion as funds were redeployed into government securities for liquidity optimization.

Earlier, the Zambian Business Times (ZBT) reached out to a respected broker whose identity has been withheld and attributed the reduction in the company’s financial performance to the bank selling off its retail banking to FNB.

 “Most of the shareholders for StanChart are speculating following the sale of the company’s services to FNB, thinking maybe the bank is about to exit the market, considering that since the sale-off, StanChart is now smaller, and as a result, the share price is being impacted,” he noted.

 Last year, in 2025, StanChart confirmed that First National Bank (FNB) had acquired the bank’s retail and wealth management business, under which, as agreed, FNB was to take over StanChart’s retail banking portfolio, which included over K5.2 billion in customer deposits and K1.6 billion in loans, as well as K3.8 billion in wealth assets under management.

Article by Justine Phiri