Standard chartered: Commitment to SMEs reaffirmed

KARACHI: In reaffirming its commitment to support commercial business, Standard Chartered Bank recently welcomed its Global Head of Small and Medium Enterprise Banking Tim Hinton for a two-day visit to Karachi. In a press release, the bank says Hinton’s visit signals the country’s importance as one of the bank’s growing commercial and SME markets across its footprint in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. With more than 3.2 million SMEs in Pakistan, it says, the growing business in this segment is key to the bank’s growth aspirations. “With our needs-based approach and strong capabilities, we are well positioned to help our SME customers capture business opportunities and expand across markets,” Hinton said. Standard Chartered in June launched the country’s first SME Centre to provide easy access and looks set to establish 20 trade centres across the country by early next year.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2012.