Stanchart to launch fingerprint technology in eight African markets

June 1, 2016 in Business, Companies, Financial Services by Editor

KAMPALA, JUNE 1- Standard Chartered Bank will be launching fingerprint recognition technology in eight of its markets in Africa later this year, as part of a digitisation strategy intended to cut costs and enhance clients security.

The planned launch follows the successfully rolling out of a mobile and online banking platform that operates across laptops, tablets and mobile phones. It also offers improved navigation and user-friendly interfaces on the Bank’s websites in Uganda, Kenya, Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania,Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“We’re bringing the best in mobile banking to Africa – consumers across the continent are increasingly affluent and tech-savvy and they want convenient access to their bank, wherever they happen to be,” says Karen Fawcett, Standard Chartered’s CEO for Retail Banking.

Through Standard Chartered Mobile, clients will be able to check balances, transfer money and pay bills securely, all through their smartphones and at their own convenience.

With Africa’s mobile penetration estimated at around 67 percent, Standard Chartered Bank aims to channel 35percent of all client transactions through online platforms by early next year.

Like many of its Ugandan peers, Standard Chartered suffered a high cost to income ration and it is thought the group’s $1.5 billion digital strategy is partly intended to bring down operating costs.