Standard Chartered hs extended the roll out of its digital-only bank to three new African markets, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The next wave of app-based banking services follows launches in Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and Kenya in the first quarter of the year and Côte d’Ivoire in 2018.
In Côte d’Ivoire the digital bank has exceeded initial expectations with 18,000 new account openings, in Uganda the Bank has seen an eight-fold increase in new account openings, whilst in Tanzania it has signed up more new customers since launching in March this year than in the whole of 2018.
Standard Chartered is expected to continue its digital expansion in African markets with another launch planned in September for Nigeria.
The move represents an attempt by the bank to make up lost ground to telco-based mobile-money services by offering a full panoply of up to 70 online and mobile-only financial products, including money transfers and bill payments, QR code and P2P payments, loan and overdraft facilities, and instant fixed deposits.
A new offering to the platform comes in the form of SC Keyboard, which allows customers to access a variety of financial services from within any social or messaging platform without having to open the Banking app.
Jaydeep Gupta, regional head of retail banking, Africa and Middle East, says: “Following the additional rollouts of our online retail banks across Africa, SC Keyboard is an important milestone in our digital journey. SC Keyboard was designed with our clients in mind, as users can now pay their bills, view their account balances and transfer money to their friends or family through any social or messaging platform."