Standard Chartered’s $1 Billion COVID-19 Facility Helps Deliver Critical Supplies and Support Manufacturing

Standard Chartered’s $1 Billion COVID-19 Facility Helps Deliver Critical Supplies and Support Manufacturing

(IN BRIEF) Standard Chartered has released a report on the outcomes of its not-for-profit COVID-19 facility, which provided financing of $1 billion to support clients in manufacturing and distributing essential products during the pandemic. The facility offered loans to help clients acquire equipment and bring their products to the market. The report highlights successful examples, such as a beverage maker in Ghana that shifted to producing affordable hand sanitizers and an oxygen supplier in Pakistan that fulfilled urgent contracts with speedy financing. Overall, the loans facilitated the production of millions of PPE items, COVID-19 tests, vaccines, oxygen cylinders, ventilators, and critical medicines. Standard Chartered’s presence and proximity to clients allowed for swift mobilization of capital, demonstrating their commitment to sustainable solutions and supporting communities in challenging times.

(PRESS RELEASE) LONDON, 21-Jul-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — Standard Chartered has published a report on the outcomes of its USD1 billion not-for-profit COVID-19 facility, a financing initiative that was launched in 2020 specifically to help clients manufacture and distribute products ranging from sanitiser and facemasks to ventilators.

The facility was set up to provide financing in the form of loans to support clients acquiring equipment and help existing manufacturers get their products to market. The report details how the bank developed a robust funding allocation framework to deliver the benefits of the programme to the right clients and how it assessed the impact of the programme.

The report cites specific examples of where this concessional funding helped clients create impact, including a beverage maker in Ghana that pivoted to making low-cost hand sanitiser at a time of acute supply shortage, and an oxygen supplier in Pakistan that was able to fulfil urgent contracts thanks to a one-week financing turnaround time. The bank estimates that, overall, its loans helped facilitate nearly 550 million pieces of PPE, two million COVID-19 tests, over 50 million vaccines, and hundreds of thousands of oxygen cylinders, ventilators, and critical medicines.

Simon Cooper, CEO of Corporate, Commercial & Institutional Banking and CEO, Europe & Americas at Standard Chartered, said: “As a connector of capital to many places in the world where it’s most needed, we focus on scaling sustainable solutions such as blended finance, sustainable bonds, loans, supply chain finance and current accounts. COVID-19 presented a different challenge, but one where our presence on the ground and proximity to clients resulted in transactions ranging from multi-million-dollar vaccination co-ordinations, to financing for local garment manufacturers who reorganised their production lines to make reusable face masks. I am immensely proud of my colleagues for making the financing programme operational on a very short timescale and thank our clients for their innovative thinking and agility.”

The report was sponsored by Marisa Drew, Group Chief Sustainability Officer at Standard Chartered: “As the global community reflects on the impact of the pandemic, I am proud of the support we provided to our clients and communities during a time of unprecedented uncertainty. As we navigated the rapid development of COVID-19, we proved that we can quickly mobilise capital at scale. This Facility is a powerful embodiment of our brand promise, here for good, and has provided us with valuable learning opportunities that we can apply in the future, in support of our markets.”

Standard Chartered

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Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges.

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Media Contact:

Josephine Wong
Group Media Relations
Standard Chartered
+65 6981 1514
josephine.wong@sc.com

Shaun Gamble
Group Media Relations
Standard Chartered
+44 7766 443662
shaun.gamble@sc.com

SOURCE: Standard Chartered