Standard Chartered Bank, India’s largest international bank, has launched a strengthened SME Banking offering that will seamlessly meet the financial needs of India’s fast growing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and power their aspirations for growth in the Indian and international markets.
Standard Chartered will offer one-stop-banking solutions to enterprises and their owners that will leverage the strengths of the Bank’s consumer and wholesale banking businesses. Importantly, the Bank will leverage its network across fast growing markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East to help SMEs capture business opportunities beyond India’s boundaries.
Through this launch, Standard Chartered will invest significantly in the key areas of people, infrastructure and service. This will include at least doubling the strength of the team of specialised Relationship Managers in the next three years from 275 currently.
“The SME segment has grown at almost twice the rate of GDP in most markets, generating over US$40 billion of revenues for the financial industry and are expected to grow at 10-12% p.a., in our footprint across Africa, Asia and the Middle East,” said Subroto Som, Global Head, SME Banking, Standard Chartered. “In light of the changing needs of SMEs and their growing importance in the economy, we have strengthened our SME customer offering. We are targeting to grow at double the rate of the industry and double our global market share to make it a multi-billion dollar business in the next three to four years.”
In keeping with its strategy of building deep customer relationships, each customer will be serviced by a dedicated and knowledgeable relationship manager. The Relationship Manager will be backed by a team of specialists from our Consumer and Wholesale Banking businesses, delivering holistic solutions for SMEs that will include funding, cash management, trade finance, foreign exchange and risk management products.
Standard Chartered will also leverage technology to further enhance customer’s experience. Customers will have access to a 24x7 hotline dedicated to SMEs and technology-based platforms such as Straight2Bank (an interactive online banking platform for businesses) for a smooth and seamless banking experience. In addition to supporting the growth of the business, Standard Chartered will also offer owners its award winning Private and Priority Banking Services, thus taking care of their personal banking needs as well.
“Based on our customer research we’ve strengthened our customer offering to provide a comprehensive suite of solutions to cater to the evolving needs of SMEs,” said Rakesh Singh, General Manager, SME Banking India, Standard Chartered Bank. “SMEs are playing an increasingly important role in India’s fast growing economy and Standard Chartered Bank with its deep local knowledge and presence across cities, which are identified SME clusters, is best equipped to address their requirements towards domestic and cross border trade.”
As one of Standard Chartered’s key markets, India is the first market in the group to launch the strengthened SME Banking offering, and will be followed by China, Hong Kong Taiwan, Korea and UAE shortly this year.
Standard Chartered Bank in India
Standard Chartered Bank is India’s largest international bank with 90 branches in 33 cities, a combined customer base of around 2 million retail customers and more than 2,000 corporate and institutional relationships. Key businesses comprise Consumer Banking, including deposits, loans, wealth management, private banking and SME banking; and Wholesale Banking, which includes cash transaction banking, treasury, corporate finance and custody services. For more information, visit www.standardchartered.co.in.
