Standard Chartered Plc posted a profit of $13 million from the sale of its wealth and retail banking business in Tanzania to the Nigeria’s Access Group last year as the British lender continues restructuring its global operations and channelling resources into businesses it considers most profitable.

The gain on the transaction, which was completed in June 2025, reversed a string of losses that the London Stock Exchange-listed lender has suffered in the sale of its business in in Zimbabwe, Angola, Sierra Leone, Gambia, and Cameroon in a policy shift meant to scale down its operations on the continent.

StanChart announced in 2022 its plan to exit the five African markets and the Consumer, Private and Business Banking (CPBB) segments in Tanzania and Cote d’Ivoire, citing the complexity and high cost-to-income ratio of operating in these markets.

StanChart’s shareholding in these subsidiaries were sold to Access Bank in July 2023, as part of the lender’s global strategy to streamline its operations and enhance its focus on wealth management and cross-border transactional businesses.“We will capitalise on our position as a leading international wealth manager, by capturing wealth flows across key global corridors, particularly for global Chinese and global Indian clients, in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. We will leverage our unique advantages: our client continuum, global network, and deep expertise in wealth solutions,” the lender said.“We will continue to reshape our mass retail business. Our focus remains on building a strong pipeline of future affluent and international banking clients, while actively optimising low returning, single-product relationships and geographies.”From the $13 million from its transaction with Access group in Tanzania, $10.8 million offset the loss the lender incurred on the sale of its shareholding in Gambian and Cameroonian businesses.

The sale of Standard Chartered Bank Gambia Ltd and Standard Chartered Bank Cameroon SA resulted in losses of $5.4 million and $5.3 million respectively, largely blamed on translation adjustment loss.

A translation adjustment loss or gain arises when consolidating foreign subsidiary financial statements into a parent company’s reporting currency due to fluctuating exchange rates.

The translation adjustment losses arising from the sale of business in Gambia and Cameroon stood at $8 and $9 respectively.

StanChart also made a loss of $500,000 from the sale of its Kenyan agritech subsidiary platform, Tawi Fresh Kenya Ltd, which connects farmers directly to produce buyers, mainly hotels, restaurants, caterers, schools, and hospitals.

The total cash consideration that StanChart received from the disposal of its businesses in Tanzania, Gambia and Cameroon stood at $48 million, according to the report.

In 2024, the lender made a $217 million loss on the sale of its business in Zimbabwe, Angola, and Sierra Leone, largely on forex translation, with the Zimbabwean unit accounting for the biggest hit.

Potential divestmentIn November 2025, the lender announced that it was exploring a potential divestment of its wealth and retail banking operations in Botswana, Uganda and Zambia.

Consequently, the lender is in the process of selling its wealth and retail banking business in Uganda to Absa Bank Uganda and selling its entire Botswana operations, including corporate, investment, wealth, and retail banking units, as part of a broader strategic shift to streamline its African footprint.

Major regional lenders, including Nedbank Group Ltd, Absa Group Ltd, Standard Bank Group Ltd, and FirstRand Ltd, have reportedly shown interest in StanChart’s banking business in Botswana.

The move followed rival Barclays Plc, which sold most of its stake in Africa business, starting in 2016 to reduce the risk and capital burden that came with majority ownership of the businesses.

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