Stanbic to support China-Zambia trade growth
China and Zambia’s favourable trade relations have been on a rapid ascent in recent years with investments amounting to over US$3bn from more than 500 Chinese businesses operating in Zambia. The investments have created over 50,000 jobs across various sectors of the economy including agriculture, mining, and manufacturing.
Trade between the two nations has been evolving as Zambia strives to diversify its economy away from copper and attract investment in other industries. China is one of Zambia’s biggest import and export destinations and it is against this backdrop that Stanbic Bank, which is part of the Standard Bank Group, has partnered with China in developing Zambia’s construction and manufacturing sectors.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), which owns 20 percent of Standard Bank Group, firmly believes the country and Africa as a whole remain important growth markets and is committed to providing fresh solutions to Zambia’s capital needs in financing developmental projects.
In 2016, Stanbic Bank Zambia launched a service aimed at financing construction projects in which Chinese firms are major players. Stanbic partnered with ICBC and China Development Bank to finance the construction of the Kabompo hydro-power project through this service.
And last year, Standard Bank opened the world’s first dedicated Africa-China Banking Centre (ACBC) offices in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The centre provides a platform to link African and Chinese clients with China’s highly connected digital banking and customer knowledge systems. It is a virtual finance hub staffed by bankers with a full understanding of Chinese culture and language who provide consultation and advisory services via telephone or online.
Stanbic Bank will be celebrating over a decade of fruitful partnership with the coming of the 2018 Spring Festival commonly referred to as the Chinese New Year. The partnership has helped its corporate clients exploit growth opportunities across the Africa-China corridor.
Stanbic Bank Zambia Director Corporate and Investment Banking, Helen Lubamba said: “Standard Bank’s vision is not just to combine African and Chinese capabilities, but to make the sum of Africa and China bigger than the whole. This is the scale of our challenge, but also the scale of the opportunity that Stanbic Bank, Standard Bank and ICBC are uniquely placed to realise.”
The Chinese New Year is an annual 15 day holiday based on the Chinese Zodiac which falls in the spring (between 21st January and 20th February). This year’s celebrations start on Friday, February 16, 2018.
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