Standard Chartered Bank wins Asiamoney Awards

Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh has recently won Asiamoney Awards 2021 for the fifth times as the 'best International Bank'. 

Asiamoney's award committee, which featured a team of senior Asia-focused journalists based in Hong Kong, supported by proprietary research by its editorial committee, reads a press release.

The committee lauded Standard Chartered for being a "part of the firmament [of Bangladesh] in a way no other foreign bank can hope to emulate.

Standard Chartered has been playing a unique role as a partner progress to Bangladesh for over 116 years. With the Bangladesh economy growing at between 5% and 7% for the past decade, the bank has positioned itself to support this journey, facilitating major investments in power, energy, transportation and urban development. 

As a result, the bank is already supporting various key multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects such as the construction of a third terminal at Dhaka Airport (a $2.5 billion project), the $1.98 billion Bangabandhu Railway Bridge and $1.2 billion Dhaka Elevated Expressway.

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.

Beyond supporting the nation's economic progress and development through its core business of banking, the Bank stood by grassroot communities across Bangladesh fight the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Bank's initiatives focused both immediate assistance and life-saving medical intervention, while working towards longer-term recovery through skills development and workforce reintegration. These initiatives combined saw the Bank recognised as the international bank with the highest CSR spend in 2020 by Bangladesh Bank. 

Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bangladesh Naser Ezaz Bijoy said, "I am delighted that our team's pursuit of excellence has been recognized once again, and would like to thank our clients, regulators and the wider ecosystem for making this achievement possible. This award is a testament to our continued commitment be a partner in progress to Bangladesh."

"With the legacy of many milestones and innovations over 116 years of uninterrupted service, we are privileged to be able to stand by our nation, as it rises above adversities and continues to write new chapters its march forward towards sustainable development and prosperity," the official added.