Standard Chartered wins 'Best Bank in Bangladesh' recognition

Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh has recently been recognised as the "Best Bank in Bangladesh" at Asset Triple A Sustainable Capital Markets Country Awards 2021.

This is the second consecutive occasion the Bank has received this prestigious award and 31^st major award the Bank has achieved in 2021, said a press release. 

The Asset's annual Triple A recognition represents the industry's most prestigious awards for banking, finance, treasury and the capital markets. As the financial multi-media group with the widest reach among Asian issuers and global institutional investors, The Asset has unparalleled insight, which forms the foundation of its annual awards. More than twenty years old, The Asset Triple A Country Awards focus on the activity in the domestic markets.

Commenting on the win, Standard Chartered Bangladesh CEO Naser Ezaz Bijoy said, "This award attests to how despite the challenges, we have been able to come together as a team to push the boundaries for our clients, and marshaled our strength and resilience to support our communities. I would like to thank our clients, regulators and the wider ecosystem for the trust they continue to place on us, making this achievement possible."

With over 117 years of uninterrupted presence in Bangladesh, Standard Chartered is the only multinational universal Bank in the country with a unique blend of deep-rooted local presence and capacity to capitalise on its global network and product coverage.

The bank has been a committed partner in progress to Bangladesh, facilitating major investments in power, energy, transportation and urban development. The bank accounted for a major share of all export and import financing, respectively, last year, as well as power generation financing and SME lending by foreign banks.

At the same time, the bank commands a leading position in the retail finance space, with strong share of card spend, consistently growing internet banking users and the launch of a number of innovative products. Over the year, the bank continued it pioneering streak with a number of firsts for the country, including the first green bond, the first green zero-coupon bond and the first sustainable trade finance transaction, the press release added. 

Even before the introduction of the regulatory payment holiday and stimulus packages by the regulator, the Bank supported clients through flexibilities on repayment – supporting clients through loan extensions which generated the liquidity for salary and wages payment, enabled digital wage payments for thousands of RMG workers, and introduced unique financing programmes to support businesses through these unprecedented times.

To meet the immediate challenges faced by our communities, Standard Chartered has been working with development sector partners to deliver aid and essentials to the communities hit hard by the pandemic and supporting frontline health services.

The Bank is supporting economically vulnerable individuals who have lost their livelihoods due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic to enable longer-term recovery through skills development and workforce reintegration.