Aalishaan Zaidi, Global Head of Digital Banking at Standard Chartered discusses the bank’s digital vision with Douglas Blakey. The aim, says Zaidi, is ‘digital with a human touch’
Digital banking is, says Aalishaan Zaidi, Global Head of Digital Banking at Standard Chartered, all about giving people choice and not, as some people believe, about removing face-to-face interactions entirely. It is about digital with a human touch.
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Zaidi tells RBI: “We see ourselves as being here for our clients, to help them achieve their dreams and ambitions. That means we design our products, services and platforms with, and around, our clients.
“It’s about offering digital banking that is easy, convenient and secure. It means giving clients the choice to do everything digitally if they want. When they want more advice – for a big financial decision, for example – they can also get help via the phone, an online chat, a video link or a visit to a conveniently located branch.”
A perfect example of Standard Chartered’s drive to leverage technology to make banking more intimate is its Retail Workbench, already running in nine markets.
This digital ‘bank in an iPad’ sales-and-service tool allows sales staff to open an account for a client in any location and makes banking services like loan approvals and credit card issuance fast, simple and completely paperless.
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By GlobalDataFour key digital targets
Standard Chartered’s digital strategy is built on four key areas that drive transformation: account opening; transacting and servicing; borrowing and investing.
“From our voice recognition platforms to our new payment options on mobile and tablet devices, every innovation is based on client insights. We spend time getting to know our clients and understanding their human – and financial – drivers and goals.”
When Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winter announced the bank’s latest $1.5bn investment in digital, he spoke positively about how digital investment will reposition the bank and says, Zaidi, the investment is already showing a return.
“We have made excellent progress – many of the Bank’s investments in the last two to three years are yielding results.”
Standard Chartered’s clients’ digital adoption rate – customers using online or mobile banking – is now 45%, up from just 32% in 2014.
In the bank’s key markets, it now takes customers only 15 minutes to open an account; Standard Chartered offers internet banking in 27 markets and mobile banking in 25 markets.
Digital sales via online and the mobile app are soaring and have doubled since 2015.
“We have also launched some very innovative initiatives, considered real market ‘disruptors’. For example, we launched Ivory Coast’s first 100% digital bank, which was also Standard Chartered’s first fully digital bank.”
Standard Chartered expects the country’s bank account take-up – led by digital – to rise rapidly over the next five years, with the country poised to act as a digital banking catalyst for the wider region, just as Kenya sparked East Africa’s mobile money revolution a decade ago.
Chat and video
Chat and video banking are now offered in China, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan, Kenya, Malaysia, Singapore and the UAE
“Clients are able to use chat and video to open an account, get financial advice or buy investment products while enjoying the flexibility and convenience of banking from any location using their laptop or mobile devices.
“Client feedback has been very positive: “Good experience. No need to wait through all the recording if I call the call centre” (Singapore); “This is so much easier than calling the bank” (Malaysia); “It was a great experience. Please maintain it that way” (UAE).
“This is one of the many ways our clients love to get in touch with us, on top of the more traditional ways we still offer – such as support via our contact centres.
Having seen the positive client feedback, we are now extending the chat and video banking capability to include post-login services across all these markets. This is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.”
As for other targets Standard Chartered has set itself including paper based on-boarding to reduce from 90% to 10%; turnaround times reduced from five days to less than an hour; online sales to increase from 10% to 30%; branch transactions to reduce from 80 million to 40 million and staff productivity to increase by 25%, Zaidi says that the bank is “very much on track.”
Looking ahead, Zaidi is enthusiastic about further possible strategic partnerships and opportunities with fintechs as they allow the bank to provide greater choice for customers.
“In payments, we now provide more payment options than any other international bank in our footprint, thanks to partnerships with Apple, Google, Samsung and others.
“We now offer Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay in seven markets and in 2017, we also launched BharatQR in India and became the first international bank to offer QR payments there.”
Digital, yes, with a human touch – but also with a compelling business case.
