A few days ago, some of us might think that Standard Charter Bank is merely a bank that has set its APAC HQ in Singapore and does not cater to local consumers. Some of us might just think that it’s a bank only for foreigners.
But yesterday, all of a sudden, everyone is interested in Standard Chartered Bank. After all, it’s not common for a bank robbery to occur in Singapore—in broad daylight. Being the fifth bank robbery in the last twelve years, the bank has made headlines for the wrong reasons (although, well, it’s not their fault).
So, what else do you know about SCB, other than “that bank that was robbed yesterday”? Here’re ten facts about this bank!
It is a UK bank
Contrary to popular beliefs (at least, according to mine and my friends’), it isn’t an India bank, but a UK bank based in London. It is a merger between two banks: Standard Bank and Chartered Bank. Now you know how the name came about, eh?
It set its foot in Singapore on 1859—just forty years after Sir Stamford Raffles found Singapore
The Chartered Bank set its foot in Singapore on 1859 with an agency, and then became a branch in 1861. That isn’t so surprising since we used to be a British colony, so having a British bank makes sense. And just for the record, POSB Bank was established in 1877—in other words, Standard Chartered Bank was in Singapore before our dear POSB Bank!
Its largest shareholder is Temasek Holdings
If this doesn’t shock you, I don’t know what would. While SCB is a listed company, its largest shareholder is Temasek Holdings, the Singapore Government investment arm. On 28 March 2006, they bought 11.55% of SCB—that’s a lot for a public company!
90% of its profits is from Asia, Africa and the Middle East
You would have expected a UK bank to run its primary business in the UK, eh? Wrong. In fact, it doesn’t even have retail banking in the UK: so there’s no branch for citizens to deposit money.
Liverpool Fans love Standard Chartered Bank
Okay, maybe it’s just my friends who are Liverpool fans who like Standard Chartered Bank, because their logo is splashed on their jersey. The value of sponsoring Liverpool Football Club is about $140 million—wah.
Prior to this robbery, SCB Singapore has been robbed two other times before
Mothership.sg reported that the bank has been robbed in 1980 and 1990 before, and both times, the robbers got away with some cash. The past cases were, however, more violent and dramatic, while the one yesterday caused no commotion.
SCB is the only UK bank that won’t be affected by Brexit
UK Banks are sweating now with Brexit threatening uncertainties in the near future, but SCB is the only UK Bank that, according to research firm Bernstein, will “come off virtually unscathed” as most of their operations not in the UK. So they managed to siam Brexit but failed to siam a robber.
Standard Chartered Marathon is so popular, it’s called the Marathon Singapore
What comes to you when you think of marathons in Singapore? You think of a bank. And in case you’re wondering…yes, it’s really Standard Chartered Bank sponsoring the race. Could well be a better investment than Liverpool FC!
It has its own skyscraper…in Hong Kong
Called Standard Chartered Bank Building, the 42-floor building is 185 metres high. Primarily an office area, it houses SCB Hong Kong HQ there as well.
Top Image: TungCheung / Shutterstock.com
This article was first published on goodyfeed.com
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