Standard Bank partners Flutterwave to boost digital financial services in Africa

South Africa’s Standard Bank has partnered with Nigerian paytech Flutterwave as it looks to enhance its digital payment offerings.

Flutterwave founder and CEO Olugbenga GB Agboola

The collaboration between Flutterwave and Standard Bank will see the introduction of e-commerce, card issuing, payments, collections, USSD, lending, and buy now pay later capabilities for the bank’s customers in Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Mauritius, Cote D’Ivoire and Malawi.

Standard Bank says the COVID-19 pandemic has engendered a “massive shift” to digital payments and e-commerce across Africa, and claims the partnership will help its customers grow their businesses online and offline.

Flutterwave founder and CEO Olugbenga GB Agboola says: “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.”

Standard Bank’s CEO of client solutions Margaret Nienaber says the partnership between the bank and the fintech is an important step in moving from providing traditional financial services to “meeting clients on the digital platforms where they are shopping, socialising and doing business”.

Speaking at Sibos 2021, Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala said Africa has “the world’s best demographics” to allow financial institutions to flourish.