Standard Chartered Bank has on Friday, 16 March 2018 announced the launch of its digital bank in Côte d’Ivoire. According to the company, this marks the Bank’s first digital bank in Africa and the first-of-its-kind to open in Côte d’Ivoire.
The bank’s digital services are available by downloading the Standard Chartered mobile application. New clients can execute all of their banking activities from their mobile devices. OPening a bank account takes less than 15 minutes says the bank. Standard Charted Bank clients can also provide all verification documents by uploading to the application and complete their onboarding process.
Sunil Kaushal, Regional CEO, Africa and Middle East said, “We are pleased to launch our first digital bank in Africa with the support of the Government of Côte d’Ivoire. This is a key milestone on our digital journey as a Bank and underlines our commitment to investing and growing in the market. We have been steadily investing in expanding our footprint in Africa over the years, and this will continue to be a priority moving forward. Digitising Africa remains at the heart of our business strategy for the region, and we look to implement our Côte d’Ivoire model across other markets in the coming months.”
Commenting on the launch, Jaydeep Gupta, Regional Head of Retail Banking, Africa & Middle East, said, “Our new digital bank was developed with our clients in mind. We have taken into consideration the feedback received by our clients at each stage of the design process and have incorporated innovative technology to allow them to execute all banking activities from a mobile device. This includes 70 banking services through the app.”
“In addition, for the first time, the client onboarding journey has been digitised and in under 15 minutes a client can open a new account through the app. What has also been introduced is the ability for clients to track and trace a request submitted, which is a first for Standard Chartered. This is something we are very proud of.”
“I’m pleased to have launched the Bank’s first digital retail bank in Côte d’Ivoire and proud to see the progress the country has made over the past decade. We have seen how digital transformation has contributed to economic development and will continue to do so, in line with the country’s National Development Plan. Our partnership with Didier Drogba has helped raise awareness, not only for our digital offering, but for enhancing financial literacy and improving accessibility to financial services across Côte d’Ivoire. Promoting the social and economic wellbeing of communities is a key component of our strategy to support sustainable development and our digital bank is certainly another step in the right direction,” said Isaac Foly, Chief Executive Officer, Côte d’Ivoire.
Ivorian professional footballer, Didier Drogba was announced as the Bank’s Digital Ambassador, Drogba shared his experience on opening an account using his mobile phone. He is the first person in Côte d’Ivoire to open a digital account at the Bank.
Edited by Fundisiwe Maseko
Follow Fundisiwe Maseko on Twitter
Follow IT News Africa on Twitter
