Standard Bank Partners With Microsoft To Accelerate Its Digital Transformation
Standard Bank Partners With Microsoft To Accelerate Its Digital Transformation. Standard Bank and Microsoft have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the digital transformation of Africa’s largest financial institution and further drive the continent’s growth. The bank’s growing investment in the Microsoft Cloud would enable the innovation, efficiencies, and resilience required to respond to market dynamics and customer needs, a statement from the bank said on Tuesday.
“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. We have adopted a cloud-first strategy, underpinned by end-to-end security and data-driven insights that will enable transformation with tangible results,” Standard Bank Group chief executive Sim Tshabalala told Independent Online.
According to Independent Online, as part of the partnership, the companies would also establish the African Digital Foundry (The Foundry), a strategic alliance, for Standard Bank and Microsoft to collaborate to co-create solutions through new technology to meet the financial needs of Africa’s consumers. Through the Foundry, the companies aspired to reach 100 million customers in Africa over the next five years.
The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited is a South African financial services group and is Africa’s biggest lender by assets. The company’s corporate headquarters, Standard Bank Centre, is situated in Simmonds Street, Johannesburg. The bank’s origins can be traced to 1862, when a group of businessmen led by the prominent South African politician John Paterson formed a bank in London, initially under the name Standard Bank of British South Africa. The bank started operations in 1863 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and soon after opening it merged with several other banks including the Commercial Bank of Port Elizabeth, the Colesberg Bank, the British Kaffrarian Bank and the Fauresmith Bank.
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company which produces computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services. Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, the Microsoft Office suite, and the Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. It is considered one of the Big Five companies in the U.S. information technology industry, along with Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook.
