by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – AFRICA’S largest financial institution, Standard Bank, is increasing investments in the cloud as it transforms from a traditional financial services company into a digital platform firm.
It has announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft to enhance this digital transformation journey.
The bank believes growing investment in the Microsoft Cloud will enable the innovation, efficiencies, and resilience required to respond to market dynamics and customer needs.
“Investing in the cloud will allow Standard Bank to achieve its strategy to transform from a traditional financial services company into a digital platform company, providing financial services, plus ancillary and associated services,” said Standard Bank Group Chief Executive, Sim Tshabalala.
This partnership builds on the 30-year relationship between the two companies and involves migrating workloads, applications, and platforms to Microsoft Azure.
“Standard Bank’s cloud-first strategy underlines the growing momentum in financial services to deliver differentiated experiences that today’s customers expect,” said Judson Althoff, Microsoft’s executive vice president of Worldwide Commercial Business.
As part of the partnership, the companies will also establish the African Digital Foundry, a strategic alliance, for Standard Bank and Microsoft to collaborate to co-create unique solutions through new technology to meet the financial needs of Africa’s consumers.
Through the Foundry, the companies aspire to reach 100 million customers in Africa over the next five years.
The partnership is also anticipated to drive digital skills development, boost youth employment, and accelerate the growth of SMEs in the African continent.
Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, the Standard Bank Group is the largest African bank by assets, operating in 20 African countries and five global financial centres.
– CAJ News