Standard Chartered Bank Shines On The Global Stage

Standard Chartered Bank scooped two prestigious Global Trade Review (GTR) awards for trade innovation. The bank was awarded the best deals in Finance Transaction for pandemic relief in Africa and Tanzania Light Railway Project Financing.

For the first award, Standard Chartered Bank was recognized for its financing for Trade and Development Bank (TDB) in Kenya to help support various countries in East and Southern Africa to mitigate the risks emanating from the global coronavirus pandemic.

The deal covered in part, the importation of emergency medical goods and services, the construction of healthcare facilities, and the establishment of new trade finance lines for governments, corporates, and SMEs looking to counter the adverse economic impacts of the pandemic.

The €334.4mn loan to the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) is backed by the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).

The involvement of MIGA meant TDB was able to access an innovative long-term facility from the syndicated loan market, despite talks taking place against a backdrop of a conservative lending market for longer tenors. This unique product extension gives MIGA the ability to leverage TDB’s credit rating to mobilize long-term funding to countries

The second award recognized Standard Chartered involvement in the Tanzania SGR project – project light rail. The Bank was the sole global coordinator and structuring bank for the light rail project in Tanzania in which the lender gave the largest syndicated loan transaction in Sub Saharan Africa in 2020 outside of the oil and gas sector.

The deal also saw the Tanzanian government sign a facility agreement with Standard Chartered for a US$1.64bn term loan to fund part of the construction of the country’s latest mega-project, the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), covering the construction of a 550-kilometer section of the railway between Singida, Morogoro and Dar es Salaam. Once fully completed, Tanzania’s SGR line will stretch for a further 1,000 kilometers to the shores of Lake Victoria, connecting the landlocked countries of Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and the DRC to the port of Dar es Salaam. It is expected to be the longest and fastest railway in East Africa.

Commenting on the awards, Birju Sanghrajka, Head of Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking, Kenya & East Africa at Standard Chartered Bank said, “We are delighted to win these 2021 GTR Leaders in Trade Innovation deal awards.

Through structured financial solutions coupled with our extensive industry and structuring expertise, we have been at the forefront of offering tailormade solutions to suit customer-specific needs. Our unique network capabilities play a crucial role as we continue to facilitate business and seamless transactions for clients’ cross-border payments, trade, investment, and development needs as we aim to become the go-to bank for our clients.”

“The bank will continue to leverage its unique network capabilities and work closely with partners including export credit agencies, development banks, supranational organizations to deliver innovative financing solutions to solve the need for sustainable infrastructure and support economic recovery,” added Birju.

The GTR Leaders in Trade awards highlight excellence in the trade, commodity, supply chain and export finance, and fintech markets, recognizing pioneering institutions and top performers from around the world.