NAIROBI, Kenya,Sep 22 – Standard Chartered Bank has upgraded its electronic payment platform as it seeks to make its services more compatible with mobile phone users.
The bank is using a platform developed by software firm Cellulant, dubbed Release 3.0, which is a mobile commerce platform that enables banking, merchant services, digital services, bulk payments and agency banking via applications on Android
(Google), IOS (apple) and other channels such as USSD, SMS and Java applications.
Standard Chartered Kenya’s Consumer Banking Director, Kariuki Ngari, said the bank’s decision to upgrade to the new mobile commerce platform was based on its robustness, which allows the bank to tailor different products for various markets across Africa.
The new platform allows customers to initiate transactions via SMS message, which can then be scanned and sent to a mobile phone and stored for several days if the phone is not activated or within range.
“The bank’s aim is to more than triple mobile commerce usage as an alternative delivery channel for our range of services as part of our strategic commitment to meet our discerning customers’ needs more conveniently,” Ngari said.
The Release 3.0 is a highly robust technical platform that integrates to different core banking systems with security features on encryption, monitoring and channel management business tools.
The platform also aggregates banks channels such as ATM and Internet banking to enhance customer’s user experience and enable services such as card less withdrawals, secure PIN management, SMS alerts on mobile for ATM, bill presentment and payment.
Cellulant drives mobile commerce in 10 countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania and Mauritius and is one of the first companies to be issued with the Mobile payments license in Nigeria.
It has also been powering mobile banking for Standard Chartered Bank for about three years across five countries in Africa and is looking to rolling this across all Standard Chartered Bank markets in Africa.
Cellulant Chief Business Officer Paul Ndichu said the firm invests 15 percent of its annual revenues from all its markets in Research and Development to drive product enhancement and new mobile commerce platforms that enables value chains.
“We have built a mobile commerce network that is connected to different platforms across different value chains in Africa such as banks, Merchant bill payment gateways and content delivery channels to deliver a transformational experience on mobile,” Ndichu said.
The software firm invested Sh100 million in developing the new mobile platform.
