Standard Bank Group and Flutterwave partner to expand digital experience in Africa

Leading payments technology company, Flutterwave, and Standard Bank Group, the largest bank in Africa by assets, are partnering to enhance digital experience for customers across Africa.

The new partnership would ride on Flutterwave’s platforms to enhance digital payments experiences for the bank’s customers in Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Mauritius, Cote D’Ivoire and Malawi, the parties said.

A wide range of customers such as individuals, SMEs, large companies and institutions would leverage the power of such digital payments and e-commerce to grow their businesses.

The partnership would see Flutterwave and Standard Bank collaborate to build e-commerce, card issuing, payments, collections, USSD, lending, and buy-now-pay-later capabilities for millions of Africans.

Commenting on the development, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flutterwave, Olugbenga GB Agboola,  said: “we are proud that Flutterwave’s white label services power digital efforts for top banks in Africa. Our partnership with Standard Bank demonstrates that fintechs and banks are not competitors but trusted partners with the key focus being the customer.

“We plan to grow financial and digital inclusion through this partnership and in the long run, we expect to generate more jobs in the digital economy and enable rapid business growth across the continent”.

Margaret Nienaber, Chief Executive Officer of Client Solutions at Standard Bank said: “Today’s announcement is an important step in Standard Bank’s platform journey expanding from our leadership position in traditional financial services to meet clients on the digital platforms where they are shopping, socializing and doing business. Partnerships with innovative fintechs like Flutterwave underpin our strategy by integrating our scale and expertise across the African continent with the services and offerings of our partners to offer an expanded range of solutions, delivered in a seamless manner to our clients.”

 Dr. Demola Sogunle, Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, a member of Standard Bank Group, said: “In its over three decades of existence, Stanbic IBTC has a rich heritage of serving customers and contributing to the growth of the Nigerian economy. At Stanbic IBTC, we see Nigeria as our home and we drive her growth. The selection of Flutterwave as our digital transformation partner reflects our resolve to deliver real impact and opportunities to our various customers. It is also a reflection of our mission to adopt digital strategies to improve our services and processes, being an innovation-driven financial institution.”

Also speaking during the announcement, Eric Fajemisin, Head, Wholesale Clients, Stanbic IBTC Bank said: “One of the mandates on our evolution to a client segment-led organization is to partner with trusted partners in our ecosystem to meet our clients’ needs. This partnership with Flutterwave is one that gives credence to that and enables us to connect with our clients via digital platforms further reiterating our well-earned status as their partner as they also transform within their businesses.”

Commenting on the benefits of the Flutterwave partnership to the financial institution’s customers, Olu Delano, Head, Client Coverage, Stanbic IBTC Bank, stated:“Our collaboration with Flutterwave is a testament to a renewed drive and focus on our future-ready transformation ambition. With our clients as the focus and center of this partnership, we are building a platform and payment system to support our customers and their targeted ecosystem across Africa, ultimately delivering exceptional service and enhancing customer experience.”