Standard Chartered Bank - Definition

Standard Chartered Bank is a British bank headquartered in London with operations in many countries , especially in Asia and Africa. Despite its British base, the bank has few customers in the United Kingdom. It is however, a large British company, quotated on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index of leading British companies.

Standard Chartered Bank was formed through the merger of two British overseas banks: the Standard Bank of British South Africa and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China. These two banks could trace their histories back to the foundation in 1853, when they were granted Royal Charters by Queen Victoria. The two banks expanded throughout the British Empire until they merged in 1969.

In the late 1980s, Lloyds Bank of the UK launched a hostile takeover of Standard Chartered. The bank resisted the hostile bid, which was subsequently defeated.

Today the bank is a leading player throughout the developing world.

Standard Chartered Bank is one of the three banks issuing banknotes for Hong Kong, the other two being the Bank of China (Hong Kong) and HSBC.