Affordability is a key requirement for economically active people in Africa who fall outside the mainstream financial sector. During 2012, we launched the AccessBanking suite of products and the BizLaunch account for the low-income and SME markets in South Africa respectively. In Africa, our SME Quick Loan is now available in ten countries.

In the second phase of the programme, we are supporting five bids with a total financing requirement of R6,1 billion. This makes Standard Bank the largest commercial funder of projects under the REIPPP Programme.

In 2012, we updated our management and leadership programmes in our South African and African operations, launched the Women in Leadership Programme to build skills among women in middle management and introduced a Women’s Forum in CfC Stanbic Bank Kenya.

In 2012, we introduced new Internet Banking capabilities in Namibia, Nigeria and Uganda; were the lead arranger of a 12-year USD89 million debt facility for a seawater desalination plant in Ghana and facilitated a number of deals for the governments, parastatals and local authorities in our African operation outside of South Africa.

We are focusing on improving the rigour of our data collection for all environmental indicators and increasing the scope of measurement. We increased the scope of measurement for our electricity consumption to 100% in South Africa, which will enable us to track our progress more accurately going forward. This accounts for the significant increase in our carbon emissions.