CLAIM: ‘Standard Bank has set its HQ in Lusaka. It has closed its office in Harare and crossed the border to build its headquarters in Zambia after 130 years in Zimbabwe.’
SOURCE: Account on X (formerly Twitter)
VERDICT: False
On 26 May 2024, an X (formerly Twitter) user Joseph Kalimbwe, @joseph_kalimbwe, posted a message claiming that Standard Bank had set its headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia after quitting Harare, having operated in Zimbabwe for 130 years.
Kalimbwe added: ‘Banks have no time for politics, when they see the economy isn’t favorable, they just pack their bags & leave!!!’
His message attracted some of the following responses from other X users:
Themba Ncube @tembancube92, ‘This is Standard Chartered bank not Standard Bank Joseph, Standard Bank is still there in Harare’.
*Ngonie_M* @_mhlanga, ‘You don’t know what you are talking about young man. Standard Chartered Bank and Standard Bank are different’.
In April 2022 Standard Chartered Bank announced that it was closing its operations in Zimbabwe after 130 years in the country. The banking group said it was exiting seven markets around the world, including Zimbabwe, to cut costs. In a statement, the bank said it would close operations in Angola, Cameroon, Gambia, Jordan, Lebanon, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe.
A notice on the banking group’s Zimbabwe website, reads as follows: ‘We no longer have offices in Zimbabwe. If you were an online banking user of Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe, please reach out to FBC Holdings or visit www.fbc.co.zw/ for more information.
If you want to find out more about the Standard Chartered Bank group, visit us at www.sc.com/en.’
History of Standard Chartered Bank in Zimbabwe
According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), the regulator of all financial institutions in the country, in 1892 Standard Bank established a pioneering presence in Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia). The first ‘branch’ was located in a bell tent in Bulawayo. In 1969 the bank merged with Chartered Bank, hence the change of name to Standard Chartered Bank.
Standard Chartered Bank in Zambia
Standard Chartered Bank whose operations in Zambia date back to 1906, in April 2022 commissioned US$40m new state-of-the-art head office building located at the corner of Mwaimwena Road and Addis Ababa Road in the capital, Lusaka.
Difference between Standard Chartered Bank and Standard Bank
Standard Chartered Bank is a British bank with operations across the world. The bank closed shop in Zimbabwe in April 2022. Standard Bank on the other hand is a South African bank, which owns Stanbic Bank in Zimbabwe. Stanbic Bank was established in Zimbabwe in 1965 as ANZ Grindlays Bank and became part of the Standard Group in 1992 following the acquisition of the African operations of ANZ Bank.
Conclusion
The claim: ‘Standard Bank has set its HQ in Lusaka. It has closed its office in Harare and crossed the border to build its headquarters in Zambia after 130 years in Zimbabwe,’ has been rated as false in that it is not the Standard but Standard Chartered Bank, which exited Zimbabwe after 130 years of operation. The claim also gives the impression that before exiting Zimbabwe Standard Chartered Bank was not operating in Zambia yet the bank has been in that country since 1906.
