Impact assessment for Standard Chartered in East Africa

We measured Standard Chartered Bank’s socio-economic impact in East Africa

Standard Chartered Bank has been operating in East Africa for 150 years. To operate in the region, the Bank employs more than 2,500 permanent staff in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Through its loan portfolio, Standard Chartered supports local employment, wages, profits, and tax payments in many different value chains.

In order to better understand and quantify its impact in East Africa, Standard Chartered asked us to conduct a socio-economic impact assessment.

To measure the socio-economic impact of Standard Chartered, Steward Redqueen used an “input-output” model, which followed the bank’s financing throughout the regional economies. This methodology quantified Standard Chartered’s impact effects at first-tier suppliers and direct clients, as well as at the level of the suppliers of these first-tier suppliers and clients (second-tier). For example, Standard Chartered financing enabled a client to raise its production, and thereby increased the salaries and taxes paid, the profits and savings it made, and the employment it provided. To do so, this first-tier client of the Bank depended on the inputs that it sourced from other companies. Hence, second-tier suppliers also recorded socio-economic impacts. These impacts were indirectly supported by the Bank’s financing.

The results show that Standard Chartered’s operations, and its financing of USD 3.4 billion to businesses, consumers, and government agencies annually lead to the Bank directly and indirectly supporting USD 2.8 billion in value added. This is equivalent to 2.1% of the East African region’s GDP. The Bank’s direct and indirect support to employment amounts to over one million people working at the Bank’s clients and the associated value chains. This equals 1.7% of the region’s labour force.