Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) has forged a partnership with telecom company Airtel Africa to drive financial inclusion across the country.

The strategic partnership aims to make mobile financial services more accessible to customers.

The partners will jointly create new products to bolster the accessibility of financial services and better serve the African people.

As part of the partnership, Airtel Money customers can now make online deposits and withdrawals on a real-time basis from SCB bank accounts.

Customers can also receive international remittances directly into their wallets, gain access to savings products, and more.

The mobile money transfer service between Airtel Money and the bank is currently live in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

The latest partnership is part of Airtel Africa’s efforts to expand its Airtel Money offering by providing new products and services to all its 19 million customers in the country.

Airtel Africa CEO Raghunath Mandava said: “Our relationship with Standard Chartered boosts financial inclusion across the continent, giving millions of people access to valuable banking services.”

In addition, SCB will enable its corporate clients to make disbursements such as payroll payments directly into the Airtel Money wallet.

Users can withdraw their funds at a branch, kiosk, or by approaching any Airtel Money agent.

Commenting on the partnership, SCB MENA regional CEO Sunil Kaushal said: “By collaborating with innovative organisations like Airtel Africa, we are accelerating our mobile and digital-led strategy to provide best in class financial services to Africa.”

The partners will launch remaining products later this year, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals.

Recently, Standard Chartered also partnered with Microsoft to become a cloud-first bank.