Historical Background of Standard Chartered Bank

Standard Chartered Bank has a history of more than 150 years. The name of the bank came from the two original banks - the ―Standard Bank of British South Africa and the ―Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China.

Of the two banks, the ―Chartered Bank was established in 1853 by a Royal Charter granted by Queen Victoria of England. The key person behind the Chartered Bank was a Scot, James Wilson who has started ―The Economist, which is still one of the world's pre-eminent publications. He visualized the advantages of financing the growing trade links with the areas in the East, where none of the other financial institutions were present at that time and therefore the Chartered Bank opened two branches in 1858 in Chennai and Mumbai.

On the other hand, the ―Standard Bank was founded by another Scot, John Paterson in 1862. He immigrated to the Cape Province in South Africa and became a successful merchant there. Coming from the similar background, he also visualized the great opportunities through linking between Europe and South Africa.

Standard Chartered Bank in Bangladesh

The Chartered Bank started its operation in Chittagong in 1948, soon after the creation of Pakistan. The branch was opened mainly to facilitate the post war re-establishment and expansion in this part of South Asia. . After the merger of Chartered bank with Standard bank in 1969, the bank increasingly invested in people, technology and premises as its business grew in relation to the country‘s thriving economy.

The bank opened its first branch in Dhaka in 1966 and shifted it‘s headquarter from Chittagong to Dhaka after the birth of the Republic of Bangladesh in1972. Today the bank has 25 branches. Among them 16 in Dhaka, 5 in Chittagong , 1 in Narayanganj, Sylhet, Khulna and Bogra respectively. The Head Office is in 67 Gulshan Avenue, Gulshan, Dhaka-1212.

Bangladesh‘s operation is under the Middle East and South Asia (MESA) region, with the controlling office in Dubai. Its correspondent relationship exists with Sonali Bank, which give its access to the countrywide. In 1993, there was an organizational restructuring, which led to the substantial expansion of the bank‘s business. And after that the amount of deposit and loan has increased by more than 5 times within five years and as a whole it shows an overall increasing trend of Standard Chartered Bank‘s market share in terms of deposit and advances.