Based in Johannesburg rather than London, Standard Bank is focusing more exclusively on links between emerging markets, and on connecting Africa to the world and the rest
cheap links of london bracelets of the world to Africa, as its latest slogan puts it. The announcement last month that China intended to provide $10 billion in new concession lending to Africa over the next three years could be good news for the continent, where infrastructure financing is a big problem. It could also be good news
cheap links of london earrings for Standard Bank, in which Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) holds a 20% stake.
Note: Standard Bank is
cheap links of london bangles cultivating alliances in a strategy of expanding outside South Africa. How worried should competitors such as Standard Chartered be? Dominic O'Neill speaks to Standard's chief executive and head of investment banking about the bank's future as a global emerging markets institution.Time seems to have come. Like rival Standard Chartered it is focusing on a global emerging markets strategy. Both banks' biggest shareholders are state-owned Asian institutions and until 1987 they were part of the same group.
Based in Johannesburg rather than London, Standard Bank is focusing more exclusively on links between emerging markets, and on "connecting Africa to the world and the rest of the world to Africa", as its latest slogan puts it.
The current range has much less emphasis on the zoological, although it does include a 35 teddy-bear Christmas-tree charm. However, it was the search for Christmas bling strictly for personal adornment that took me to the Links flagship store in Sloane Square, Chelsea. Tiffany has a branch next door, which indicates that Links thinks itself the equal of even the sector's most iconic names.
Perhaps my Chain Reaction companions -Sophie and Issy -and I should have paused outside Links for an Audrey-Hepburn-outside-Tiffany's moment, gazing at some fabulous gem.But the desire to get up close and personal with the trinkets overruled the desire to act out key moments in the history of women's complex relationship with jewellery.
We observed that despite its luxurious interior, Links dealt as much in the affordable as in the unattainable: there were lots of presents you could buy for yourself, or include on a wishlist for a husband or boyfriend who has not trousered a Goldman Sachs-standard seven-figure bonus this season.
The Purity lotus-shaped silver and pearl earrings ( 120), for the woman who wants to suggest the hippy chick within, and the 98 silver Sweetie expandable bracelet were just some of the inexpensive offers. This was a bangle in which you could type at speed without irritating tinkling sounds.
