Côte d’Ivoire marks the pilot launch of the digital bank
International Banking Group, Standard Chartered Bank Friday announced the official launch of its digital bank in Côte d’Ivoire. This marks the Bank’s first digital bank in Africa and the first-of-its-kind to open in Côte d’Ivoire.
To compete for customers, banks are increasingly taking advantage of Africa’s deepening mobile phone coverage, the bank joins competitors including Lloyds, Kenyan lender CBA’s M-Shwari and Togo-based Ecobank that are focusing their growth strategies around digital banking.
“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 in 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.”Sunil Kaushal, Regional CEO, Africa and Middle East said
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 on boarding 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.”
Isaac Foly, Chief Executive Officer, Côte d’Ivoire, said: “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.”
The bank’s digital services are available by downloading the Standard Chartered mobile application. New clients can execute all of their banking activities right from their mobile devices, starting by opening their bank account in less than 15 minutes. They can also provide all verification documents by uploading them to the application and fully completing their onboarding process within minutes.
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