Growth was driven by its consumer and wholesale operations and the launch of new wealth management and trade financing products. Return on equity leaped 13 percentage points from 32% in 2006 to 45% in 2007. The bank’s non-performing loan ratio remains high, but it has fallen seven percentage points from 25% of total loan book in 2006 to 18% in 2007. The wholesale banking arm of SCBG performed particularly well in 2007 after the launch of a series of initiatives that included a foreign exchange platform and online trading capabilities.
A big focus for the bank last year was on technology and security. It implemented a system which matches customer transactions in the bank’s core banking system to data on sanctioned individuals and terrorist groups. The bank also established a disaster recovery site which will serve as a back-up for the entire network. Sound risk management and strong revenue growth contributed to a vastly superior performance by SCBG in 2007, when compared to a lacklustre 2006.
