By Celestine Okorie, Bureau Chief, Southern Africa
Africa’s largest bank by assets, Standard Bank has partnered with Africa’s leading payments technology company, Flutterwave to enhance digital payments experiences for its customers in Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Mauritius, Cote D’Ivoire and Malawi.
Flutterwave and Standard Bank are collaborating to build e-commerce, card issuing, payments, collections, USSD, lending, and buy-now-pay-later capabilities for millions of Africans.
The integration will help customers including individuals, SMEs, large companies and institutions to fully leverage the power of digital payments and e-commerce to grow their businesses.
The COVID-19 crisis has changed how people buy and sell across Africa – enabling a massive shift to digital payments and e-commerce. According to Statista, digital responses were key to improving services within several sectors such as business, healthcare and education. A shift to digital payments accounted for 33 per cent of all COVID-19 responses by governments and the private sector of Sub-Saharan African countries in 2020.
Institutions, businesses and individuals continue to think of ways to reach their customers using digital channels. With this partnership, Standard Bank will provide agile tech solutions to its customers to help them grow their businesses online and offline. This partnership denotes the unique collaborative relationship that exists between banks and fintechs across Africa where the customers’ needs and satisfaction take utmost priority.
Commenting on the news, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flutterwave Olugbenga GB Agboola said: “We are proud that Flutterwave’s white label services power digital efforts for top banks in Africa. Our partnership with Standard Bank demonstrates that fintechs and banks are not competitors but trusted partners with the key focus being the customer. We plan to grow financial and digital inclusion through this partnership and in the long run, we expect to generate more jobs in the digital economy and enable rapid business growth across the continent”.
Chief Executive Officer, a member of the Standard Bank Group, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Dr. Demola Sogunle reinforced the importance of the partnership to Stanbic IBTC’s customers. He said: “In its over three decades of existence, Stanbic IBTC has a rich heritage of serving customers and contributing to the growth of the Nigerian economy. At Stanbic IBTC, we see Nigeria as our home and we drive her growth. The selection of Flutterwave as our digital transformation partner reflects our resolve to deliver real impact and opportunities to our various customers. It is also a reflection of our mission to adopt digital strategies to improve our services and processes, being an innovation-driven financial institution.”
Also speaking during the announcement, Head, Wholesale Clients, Stanbic IBTC Bank Eric Fajemisin said: “One of the mandate on our evolution to a client segment-led organisation is to partner with trusted partners in our ecosystem to meet our clients’ needs. This partnership with Flutterwave is one that gives credence to that and enables us connect with our clients via digital platforms further reiterating our well-earned status as their partner as they also transform within their businesses.”
Commenting on the benefits of the Flutterwave partnership to the financial institution’s customers, Head, Client Coverage, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Olu Delano stated: “Our collaboration with Flutterwave is a testament to a renewed drive and focus on our future-ready transformation ambition. With our clients as the focus and center of this partnership, we are building a platform and payment system to support our customers and their targeted ecosystem across Africa, ultimately delivering exceptional service and enhancing customer experience
