Africa's largest bank by assets, Standard Bank, said on Thursday its SA retail banking franchise now accounts for less than half of its profits, but it is hopeful its local operations will benefit from regulatory reforms that should boost an anaemic economic growth rate.
The bank, which is valued at about R324 billion on the JSE, said on Thursday its headline earnings rose 35% to R21.2 billion in its six months to end-June, with the company raising its dividend by just over a third - a R11.5 billion payout.
Headline earnings in its rest-of-Africa personal and private banking operations more than doubled to R605 million, but in SA, this climbed only 1% to R2.9 billion, despite growth in its client base.