Standard Bank, one of South Africa’s major banks, is looking to exit a joint venture with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC.) The joint venture, the London-based ICBC Standard Bank Plc (ICBCS), long represented the largest Chinese investment on the continent.

Now Standard is trying to convince ICBC to buy out its 40% share of the joint venture. It hopes that exiting ICBCS will free up capital that it can then redirect into African business. Sim Tshabalala, Standard’s CEO told Fin24: “It doesn’t make sense. We’re not an international bank. We don’t want to be competing internationally. We want to use that capability that we have in Africa to be the African champion.”