How do you ensure that Standard Chartered remains competitive in an increasingly digital banking landscape?
It is safe to say we are currently living and working at an extraordinary and important moment in time. At Standard Chartered, we have spent the last five years strengthening our foundations and demonstrating we can be a profitable, purpose-led company that is ‘Here for Good’.
As the traditional boundaries between the financial and technology sector continue to blur, we are committed to listening intently to our customers and investing in transforming our business digitally. For example, we are also proudly expanding our digital banking network in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan, in turn strengthening our customer base through enhanced connectivity.
The successful establishment of these digital banks have served as a testament to the bank’s growing digital footprint in the region and presence as a leader in digital banking technologies. Africa continues to create a digital ecosystem which is particularly crucial as a multiplier of growth, as access to smartphones and other devices enhances consumer information, networking, job-creating resources, and even financial inclusion.
As a result, we see significant opportunities for collaboration and innovation through digital banking, ecosystem banking and blended finance to attract and direct additional capital to our markets. As we look ahead, we are redirecting our priorities on the most significant opportunities for growth while also focusing on simplifying the business.
We remain committed to the region as we continue to accelerate our digital transformation, proudly expanding our digital banking network across several markets.
Can you elaborate on the bank’s digitisation strategy and how it has helped the bank in achieving its goals?
The global pandemic caused a significant shift in the banking sector, accelerating the drive towards digital adoption. Technology is rapidly reshaping the financial services industry and powering a more sustainable world. In this post pandemic economy, we are increasingly seeing more and more people turn to digital payment and e-commerce platforms, and as a result we are investing in more digital capabilities, alliances and partnerships – redoubling our digital efforts that includes providing a standard platform for global core digital services across all our footprint markets.
This allows clients to access core services through a single globally consistent digital experience, which is fundamental to our move towards a digital future that grows, defends and differentiates our business, and drives better outcomes for our clients. Our focus is to continue to build and enhance capabilities for digital onboarding and online servicing, while digitising our core client journeys in cash, trade and financial markets.
Furthermore, we see that customers are increasingly demanding a digital experience where they enjoy simple, secure, and affordable banking anytime, anywhere. Our digital banks have allowed us to attract a new audience of future-ready consumers, comprising a younger, digital-savvy demographic, with more than two-thirds of accounts being opened by consumers below the age of 35 and women representing a much larger share than normal.
In addition, we are also proudly expanding our digital banking network in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan, and are excited to further strengthen our digital banking story in the region.
Can you share some examples of how the bank is supporting the development of the fintech ecosystem in Africa and the Middle East?
The financial services industry is undergoing an unprecedented transformation powered by digital technologies and innovation. In this post pandemic economy, we are increasingly seeing more and more people turn to digital solutions. In response, the AME region has seen an influx of fintech startups, funding and increased support for existing and new ventures.
Countries such as Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and South Africa are powering the fintech industry in Africa; which is already an established global leader in mobile money. The UAE, Qatar, KSA and Bahrain for example are leading the way in terms of collaborating with fintechs to capture this segment of digital-first services to customers.
At Standard Chartered, fintech partnerships are powering our digital-first banking services that address diverse client needs. These partnerships and new capabilities have helped clients to connect quickly, easily, and seamlessly to banking services while improving financial access for their clients and suppliers or other ecosystem members such as institutional investors.
A strong model for an effective bank-fintech partnership involves identifying complementary skill sets and mutually supporting areas of expertise and capabilities that combine into unique value propositions. The resulting propositions, stronger than what a bank or fintech could deliver on its own, aim to solve practical problems and advance strategic objectives for clients and markets. A partnership approach accelerates client access to that innovation. Meanwhile, banking clients can take advantage of the stringent due diligence that banks bring to vetting their fintech partners.
Can you tell us more about the bank’s approach to sustainability reporting and how it is being received by stakeholders?
As we navigate towards achieving net zero in our operations by 2030 and in our financed emissions by 2050, we believe in the importance of transparency in reporting our corporate footprint which in turn will help ensure regulatory compliance, responsiveness to stakeholder needs and ultimately lead to reaching our sustainability goals and enhancing corporate performance.
Our approach to corporate reporting includes embedding non-financial information throughout our Annual Reports. We also produce a standalone Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Report, and a Modern Slavery Statement.
Our annual sustainability report for instance covers insights on how the banking industry is performing in terms of sustainability, including interest in sustainable banking, mobilising capital into sustainable investments, which we hope will also help increase awareness around the power of individual capital and encourage investors to increase their adoption of sustainable investments and the wider universe of sustainable banking products, to catalyse positive change.
Meanwhile our annual ESG report provides ESG-related information to stakeholders and investors by setting out alignment index tables for the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and World Economic Forum Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics, as well as our self-assessment template for the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking (UN PRB).
The bank is committed to sustainable social and economic development across business, operations and communities including achievement of net zero emissions and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We strive to provide our stakeholders with relevant and meaningful sustainability information through our reporting and in future years will endeavour to enhance our disclosures on these topics.
How is the bank leveraging its network to connect Africa to the rest of the world, and what benefits does this offer to clients?
Standard Chartered is the largest international bank in Africa. We help people and businesses prosper and for over 160 years have provided financial services that help people and companies succeed – creating wealth, jobs, and growth. Our mission is to provide best-in-class structuring and financing solutions and drive creation through client initiatives.
The Bank’s extensive network, deep expertise in trade finance, and commitment to sustainability and innovation are helping to connect Africa to the rest of the world and support the region’s economic growth and development.
In Africa, which is one of our key markets, we seek to introduce our innovative products and services. For example, we are working on the adoption of blockchain in trade. We are convinced of blockchain technologies’ transformative nature and see the business adoption of the technology to continue to grow and re-shape the future of financial industry. We are taking an active approach to blockchain have invested in building capabilities, especially, around deployment and interoperability (across different blockchain protocols and technologies).
We actively engage with regulators and financial institutions to share best practices and knowhow. Throughout several engagements over the years, we have learned a lot from our peers in the region and are confident that we have contributed to the development and progress of the financial industry.
In what ways has the bank’s trade strategy contributed to its success this year?
With the Bank’s wide global network and expertise as a leading provider of trade finance solutions to clients across a range of industries, we have been able to help clients grow their businesses and enter new markets, as well as build resilient, robust and sustainable supply chains.
As a leading trade bank, we have a crucial role to play in enhancing the accessibility to the capital and liquidity needed to facilitate global trade, and to do so in a sustainable manner. In alignment with our commitment to supporting global trade, the Bank and the IFC have recently signed a $700m investment in IFC’s Global Trade Liquidity Programme (GTLP), which is expected to support up to $6.4bn in trade over three years across Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America by supporting about 850 importers and exporters involved in critical commodities, basic goods and other essential materials to meet market demand.
In today’s challenging post pandemic macro environment, partnerships can help continue to provide the much-needed liquidity to boost trade flows and drive economic growth. In recent years, Standard Chartered has focused on expanding its digital capabilities to enhance its trade finance offerings.
For example, the bank has developed a range of digital platforms, such as its Straight2Bank platform, which provides clients with a range of digital trade finance solutions. Meanwhile, demand is growing for the Bank’s Sustainable Trade Finance proposition, which embeds the Loan Market Association’s (LMA) green and sustainability-linked loan principles into its offering. Launched in March 2021, the solution has been helping clients finance underlying goods to meet agreed sustainability standards, to support trade for suppliers who meet ESG metrics, or to finance trade in sustainable industries, such as renewable energy, and transition activities, such as emissions reduction.
Over the next decade, sustainability and resilience will shape the business model of companies. The Bank will continue to develop innovative and simple solutions such as our Sustainable Trade Finance Proposition, to help companies build sustainable and future-fit supply chains.
How has the bank adapted to the changing economic and political landscape in Africa and the Middle East?
The Africa and Middle East region is home to some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, with significant potential for trade and investment. The Bank recognised this potential and continued to invest where it matters most. We grew for over 160 years by connecting ourselves into the forces driving the region’s fast-changing economies.
We also see significant opportunities for collaboration and innovation, through digital banking, ecosystem banking and blended finance, to attract and direct additional capital to our markets in the region. Digitisation of business and supply chains in the region are under way and intend to improve data accuracy and transparency, help businesses anticipate risk and prevent loss, and improve supply chain efficiencies.
As our client base continues to grow, we at the Bank stay committed to servicing our markets in the region, through a continued focus on consistency and excellence. We also play a vital role in the development of key economies across AME, from diversification efforts in the Arab world to intra-continental trade in Africa, by demonstrating our local expertise and global network.
Talk to us about your personal management style.
As a leader, I acknowledge that great change and success always starts with our people. I ensure to give people the freedom and accountability to make a real difference in the work they do, challenge where things could be better and find new opportunities for innovation. It is critical to create an environment where people are inspired to reach their full potential, establish a clear vision and empowered to lead the bank’s future growth.
One of the key moments in my career was when we decided to open a digital bank in Cote d’Ivoire – and we accelerated that strategy across key markets in Africa. Our purpose remained the same, however it was important for us to challenge the way we operated, to ensure we drive commerce and prosperity to the areas that need it the most.
This can only be realised when you have a strong, diverse team who share the same passion for challenging the status quo, and aren’t afraid of adopting exponential thinking, that will help turn ambition into action.
At Standard Chartered we are deeply committed to providing a workplace that is diverse, inclusive, and respectful for all our colleagues. We take gender balance into consideration when making recruitment and promotion decisions. We pride ourselves in our diversity and inclusion, and we constantly seek new ways of doing business, generating fresh ideas and staying hungry for knowledge and development is key to seeing personal or professional success in my opinion.