Stanbic opens branch in Palapye

ONALENNA MODIKWA
Staff Writer | Tuesday October 28, 2008 00:00

 

The bank's Managing Director, Leina Gabaraane, said Stanbic established its operations in Botswana in 1992; but with 9 branches, over 500 staff and a full range of banking services, it was today one of Botswana's leading commercial banks.

Gabaraane said the decision to establish a branch in Palapye gave the bank a presence in all major parts of Botswana.

'Government's substantial investment in Palapye, the Morupule Power Station with its close proximity to extensive energy resources, all made establishing a branch (here) a compelling decision,' he said.

 Consistent with its growth strategy, Stanbic will adopt a medium-term strategy by means of which it will increase its branch network by opening at least one new branch a year.

'Our rollout and repositioning of other branches continue in earnest,' Gabaraane said.

'We have established a wealth management subsidiary, which is now one of the leading asset management companies (in Botswana), and we recently established a life insurance division, which trades under the Liberty brand,' he said.

Liberty Life is one of South Africa's leading life insurance companies.

Gabaraane said the bank's relevance to Botswana was seen in, among other things, its partnering with the Botswana Government to achieve policy objectives like Vision 2016.

Consistent with Vision '2016's pillar of 'an educated and informed nation', Stanbic Bank continued to make substantial investments in the training of its staff and had recently built a fully-fledged staff training facility in Gaborone to complement the training offered by the group in Johannesburg.

'We have, as a result, seen Batswana rise through the ranks as the skills base improved; a direct result of this initiative was the recent appointment of the bank's first citizen Managing Director,' Gabaraane said, illustrating the point by referring to himself.

Indicated that the bank also recognises that it will not achieve its objective of having a prosperous and wealthy nation if it does not come forth and provide the requisite and affordable financial services and take it to the people such as the opening of the Palapye branch.

 He said the bank will also continue to make various donations to contribute to the social upliftment of the communities that it operates in and in so doing help give the underprivileged some dignity.

 As part of the opening celebrations, the bank sponsored a weekend-long football tournament of the Tswapong league to the tune of P60, 000 as an indication of the beginning of its partnership with the Palapye community.

 For his part, the Vice President Mompati Merafhe said with
 its operations in 18 African countries and 20 in the rest of the world, Stanbic bank is not by any measure a small financial institution.

He said the spread of the bank's operations in Botswana is very welcome because it is in line with the government's strategy to promote economic diversification through growth in sectors other than mining.

'Financial services sector which is critical to any economy is one of those that have been specifically targeted in the country's diversification efforts. They also bring employment and empowerment opportunities to the citizens,' said Merafhe. 

The VP also applauded the banks' involvement in corporate social responsibility initiatives.