Bank, saw a surge in profits for the year to December 2013 as its business units maintained great growth momentum during the period, it said on Thursday.

Standard Bank, which recently disposed some of its units in the developed world and emerging markets to focus on Africa, said its African units had posted 44 percent growth in headline earnings.

Standard Bank has operations in 18 African countries and has opened representative offices in others. In an effort to increase its scale in Africa, Standard Bank’s South African competitor, Absa, last year acquired African assets of its parent company, Barclays, which has operations in 10 African countries.

Sim Tshabalala, the co-CEO of Standard Bank, said the lender had made good progress in its Africa-focused strategy, showing its confidence in the region’s economic potential.

Group headline earnings, a measure of profitability in South African companies, soared 15 percent to R17 billion ($1.5bn).

The lender continues to use its South African platform and its access to funds globally, to write businesses that serve products and services that deliver value to its clients throughout the continent.

However, risks remain despite the fact global economic activity and trade improved in the past financial year.

Some of the risks include China’s slowing down economy and the Eurozone economies that are struggling to come out of the woods.