66ZZ Morgan St. 30

    RNS Number : 3895V
  Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd
  28 May 2008
   

    SBK - Standard Bank - Chief executive's comments at the AGM 28 May 2008 and capital adequacy disclosure
Standard Bank Group Limited 
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) 
(Registration number 1969/017128/06) 
South African Share Code: SBK 
Namibian Share Code: SNB 
ISIN: ZAE000109815 
    ("Standard Bank" or "the group")
     
1.  Chief executive's comments at the Annual General Meeting 28 May 2008
    
At the annual general meeting to be held later today, chief executive Jacko Maree will make the following comments regarding the group's
performance for the first four months of 2008 in comparison with the same period for 2007:

    "At the release of the group's 2007 results on 5 March 2008, we cautioned that the outlook for global economic growth had deteriorated
and that growth rates in the market in which we operate are expected to slow in 2008. 

    In South Africa, the impact of a further 50 basis point increase in interest rates in April, electricity outages and fuel and food price
inflation have contributed to a more challenging operating environment than we had anticipated.  In the group's international investment
banking operations, the global credit and liquidity crisis has significantly reduced revenue opportunities in its credit related
businesses.

    The most significant shift from expectations is further increases in early arrears and non-performing loans in our personal and business
banking division in South Africa. The level of consumers' disposable income available to cover increasing debt instalments has been
materially impacted by sharply increasing inflation. The annualised group credit loss ratio for the first four months of the year has
exceeded our published objective. Although there is typically a seasonal increase in arrears in the first quarter of the year, the April
interest rate increase and ongoing inflationary pressures are causing persistence in arrears experience.

    On the positive side, net interest income is benefiting from the additional capital received from ICBC and from strong loan growth
achieved in prior periods.  Fee and commission income retained momentum and trading revenues enjoyed good volumes in foreign exchange and
commodity trading. Cost efficiency is receiving closer than usual attention and the positive gap between revenue and cost growth has
widened, improving the cost-to-income ratio for the period under review. 

    Shareholders are referred to the Liberty Group market update on 14 May 2008 wherein it was stated that "the group's return on embedded
value for the first three months of 2008 remains in line with market guidance of 14.5% to 15.5%. Group indexed new business remained firm
but growth levels were lower than those enjoyed in the 2007 year."

    Jacko Maree will also make the following comments on the outlook for the group in 2008:
    "Given the factors mentioned above, an uncertain outlook for the global banking environment and a higher than anticipated inflation and
interest rate environment in South Africa, it is unlikely that the group will achieve its objective of normalised headline earnings per
share growth of inflation (CPIX) plus 5 percentage points for 2008. The group nevertheless expects growth in normalised headline earnings
per share to exceed CPIX. "

    2.  Capital adequacy disclosure in terms of Basel 2

    Standard Bank was required to comply with Basel 2 from 1 January 2008. In terms of the Pillar 3 disclosure requirements under Basel 2,
capital adequacy information is required to be disclosed by the group on a quarterly basis.  The following is the consolidated regulatory
capital position for the group at the end of the first quarter of 2008.

                                                          March
                                                           2008
                                                             Rm

    Total tier 1 capital                                 66 639
    Total tier 2 capital                                 14 115
    Total tier 3 capital                                  1 879
    Total qualifying capital                             82 633

    Total capital requirement in terms of Basel 2        60 010
    Primary (Tier I) capital adequacy ratio (%)            10.8
    Total capital adequacy ratio (%)                       13.4

    This information has not been reviewed or reported on by the group's external auditors.
    
 
    Johannesburg 
28 May 2008

    Sponsor 
Standard Bank

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
  END 
 
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