Gambiaj.com – (BANJUL, The Gambia) – Standard Chartered Bank Gambia Limited accounted for a $5.4 million loss in 2025 as its parent company, Standard Chartered Plc, divested from its operations in The Gambia and Cameroon.
According to the Group’s 2025 financial statement, the total loss from the two countries stood at $10 million, with The Gambia representing more than half of that figure.
The disposal of the Gambian subsidiary included a translation adjustment loss of $8 million, reflecting currency-related accounting impacts tied to the transaction.
From a Gambian perspective, the $5.4 million loss represents the financial cost absorbed by the Group in exiting a market where it had operated for decades.
While the loss is borne by the parent company rather than the local economy directly, it underscores the valuation gap between the bank’s book value and the final sale price agreed upon during the divestment process.
The sale forms part of a broader transaction between Standard Chartered and Nigeria’s Access Bank Plc, which acquired Standard Chartered’s shareholdings in subsidiaries in Angola, Cameroon, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone, as well as its consumer, private, and business banking operations in Tanzania.
The handover of operations in Cameroon was completed in December 2025, with similar transitions underway or concluded in other affected markets.
Mixed Outcomes Across Markets
While Standard Chartered posted losses in The Gambia and Cameroon, with the latter recording a $5.3 million loss including a $9 million translation adjustment, the group registered gains in other disposals during the year.
These included a $238 million gain from the sale of Standard Chartered Research and Technology India Private Limited and a $1.8 million gain from Fourtwothree Pte. Ltd. A smaller loss of $0.5 million was recorded on Tawi Fresh Kenya Limited.
The divergent outcomes suggest that while the bank’s exit strategy yielded significant capital gains in certain jurisdictions, its withdrawal from smaller African markets such as The Gambia came at a financial cost.
Strong Global Performance in 2025
Despite the divestment losses, Standard Chartered reported robust overall financial performance for 2025.
Operating income rose six per cent to $20.9 billion, or eight per cent excluding notable items, driven by record results in Wealth Solutions and Global Markets, alongside double-digit growth in Global Banking.
Underlying profit before tax climbed 18 percent to $7.9 billion, while underlying earnings per share increased 37 percent to 229.7 cents.
Group Chief Executive Bill Winters said the bank had exceeded its 13 percent Return on Tangible Equity target a year ahead of schedule, reaching 14.7 percent in 2025.
“This bank has been transformed in the last ten years from a traditional, broad-based commercial bank into a focused, structurally more profitable, and distinctly positioned international institution,” Winters stated, adding that further details of its next growth phase would be unveiled at a capital markets event in May.
Interim Chief Financial Officer Pete Burrill said the results reflected the sustained execution of the bank’s cross-border and affluent banking strategy, which helped clients navigate a challenging global environment.
For The Gambia, the divestment marks the end of an era for one of the country’s long-standing international banking brands.
While the parent company absorbed a multimillion-dollar loss on its exit, the broader impact will likely be measured in how successfully the new ownership structure sustains competition, credit availability, and investor confidence in the domestic financial sector.
