When Standard Bank dubbed its latest securitisation vehicle "Blue Titanium" it might as well have been talking about the whole company.
The bank brushed off the dust after its battle against Nedcor's takeover advances in 2000 and reinvented itself as a bank that deserves to stand alone.
"The crisis created by the takeover [attempt] enabled rapid change to take place in all sorts of areas. It was a sense of urgency that was evident throughout the company ," says CEO Jacko Maree.
Maree says the changes since then have been about people, rather than strategy. "There's been no fundamental change in strategy at all. It's the same as it was six or seven years ago. It has been about execution rather than strategy."
Maree took the helm as the Nedcor bid was getting under way in 1999 . Compared with three years ago, the senior management of the bank is entirely different. Of the top 200 people in the bank, 40% have changed.
Earnings have improved with staircase regularity since then, while rivals have flagged.
The only grey spot has been its London operations, which focus on emerging markets and project finance, considered high risk. But Maree has worked on turning the operation around. The offshore arm has been more closely aligned to the SA group in operations and risk management.
Does it still offer investment value? Investors have certainly noticed the bank's achievements. It has outperformed the general banks index by 8% since the beginning of 2002. But that only means the share price is back where it was then. The bank remains on a historic p:e of 7,8 or, according to consensus forecasts, a forward p:e of 6,7. Dividend yield is 4% on a historic basis.
Those factors still make it a blue-chip buy.
