Standard Chartered wins the award this year for making several key enhancements to its digital banking platform, supporting strong growth in customer sales and engagement.
AfE 2024
The bank launched a new version of its SC Mobile App – the first bank-wide revamp of the app since 2018 – which now carries new, simplified design and navigation, and integrates sophisticated payment and cross-border remittance capabilities.
As part of the upgrade, the bank also digitalized a range of banking products available on the app, including deposits (Bonus Payroll, Online Asia Miles Time Deposit, and Wealth Saver), cards and loans. This included further digitalizing its partnership with AlipayHK, which involved launching new direct payment capabilities, a merchant installation function and a digital wallet binding programme to enable more mainland China, cross-boundary card usage and spending.
Together with developing new innovations for its mobile app, the bank has been involved in one of the most innovative areas of finance: central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Last year, it worked with 10 merchants and over 200 Hong Kong citizens in participating in the e-HKD pilot programme, a key component of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s retail CBDC initiative.
Side by side with these developments, StanChart launched a digital sales and marketing programme to support its strategy and drive growth, an effort that helped deliver strong results.
The bank delivered higher year-on-year sales growth last year compared with the average among its peers in Hong Kong (76% compared with an average of 59%, according to research by Finalta), with digital being the primary driver.
About two thirds of retail product sales came via digital channels. As such, digital revenues from retail products were up 104% year on year, while digital lending over the period rose by a record 74%.
Importantly, the bank grew its digital customers to over 1.3 million last year, and boasts a digitally active (within a month) ratio of 56.6%, which is higher than the industry average in Hong Kong.