MASERU — Standard Bank has been named the best investment bank in Africa for 2011 in the EMEA Finance magazine awards.
In a statement the bank said it was also named the best investment bank in eight other countries — South Africa, Nigeria, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Swaziland and Tanzania.
Standard Bank also won the best bank in Malawi and Zimbabwe and best broker award in Nigeria.
Richard Gush, chief executive, Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking Africa, said the bank will continue to invest in specialist teams to boost its business.
“We will continue to invest in specialist product teams and infrastructure capacity in select African markets.
“We remain focused on our areas of expertise: natural resources and renewables, power and infrastructure, telecommunications and links to other key markets,” Gush said.
“We will continue to position our corporate and investment business to facilitate and capture financing and advisory opportunities associated with these flows.”
The bank said it has been a market leader in its corporate banking business in many markets and has also focused on its investment banking business to ensure that the best people and products are available to service clients.
The bank said management has continued to strengthen its investment banking franchise by building teams with strong global and domestic expertise.
It says investment banking is a critical delivery mechanism for banks into the key sectors: infrastructure development, commodities, oil and gas and telecommunications in Africa.
Standard Bank has seen growth in demand across Africa for its activities in investment banking including advisory services, structured finance and equity and debt capital markets.
The bank said it has facilitated nearly US$6 billion (M51 billion) in merger and acquisition finance in the last year and lending levels are as high as before the pre-global financial crisis levels of 2008.
