Standard Bank began life in the late 1850s amid a boom in wool exports from Port Elizabeth in the British Cape Colony.
Banks were flourishing on the back of the bustling trade and a group of businessmen led by John Paterson decided there was room for one more.
Paterson secured the support of investors in Britain and The Standard Bank of British South Africa began operations on October 15, 1862.
Over the next 50 years a branch network was established throughout southern Africa. But it was only as recently as 1987 that Standard Bank became a wholly South African entity, when Britain's Standard Chartered Bank sold its 39 per cent stake in the lender. The move proved to be an impetus for expansion.
The following year the bank began to re-establish links across the African continent by opening a branch in Swaziland.
In 1991, Standard Bank established a bank in Botswana and acquired operations in Kenya, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and secured minority holdings in banks in Ghana and Nigeria.
