Standard Chartered is seeking a fintech partner to launch a savings product in Kenya

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The London-headquartered global bank has announced plans to roll out a savings product for its Kenyan retail customers, per FinTech Futures. Standard Chartered has a strong presence in Kenya as the sixth-largest bank by assets, and it launched a digital retail-only bank there in 2019.

The global bank is now looking to drive savings growth by partnering with a fintech on a new product; it has set a June 16 deadline for applications, with pitches and final selection taking place toward the end of July. Potential fintech partners must be able to connect with a core bank system and meet know your customer (KYC) requirements as well as product feature specifications.

Standard Chartered has outlined the features for the product, including a gamification aspect and automated budget guidance, which should help the bank achieve its aim of "entrenching a savings culture":

• The gamification of products drives user engagement. Chief among gamification's associated benefits is that it provides financial institutions (FIs) with a new way of engaging customers. Incentivizing users to interact with a product — such as through offering rewards or tiers of exclusive benefits depending on usage — leads to greater association with the product and consequently drives greater customer loyalty to the FI.
• Implementing automated budget guidance can serve as an educational tool. Familiarity with savings products in Kenya is relatively low: 2 in 3 working Kenyans are not part of long-term savings schemes, per FinTech Futures. Incorporating automated budget guidance as a feature of the savings product can enable Standard Chartered to educate consumers on the importance of saving and how they can use the product to meet their goals, thereby further increasing its use.

Partnering with a fintech to deliver the product will accelerate the time to market, as well as ensure the product delivers an enriched customer experience. Fintechs have a competitive advantage when it comes to quickly developing products, thanks to their modern technology stacks, flat structures, and use of agile process frameworks. Standard Chartered can benefit from these qualities by partnering with a fintech to develop its savings product.

What's more, fintechs' competitive advantage extends to developing products that offer enhanced customer experience — fintechs provide both digital platforms which are customer-centric, as well as a personalized experience, fueled by their extensive collection and use of consumer data to understand their preferences and behaviors. These factors should help Standard Chartered roll out a savings product that meets the needs of its Kenyan retail customer base and supports the bank in building a savings culture.

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