With a presence in 59 of the world’s most dynamic markets, Standard Chartered is a leading international banking group, driving commerce and prosperity through its unique heritage, diversity and values.
Standard Chartered Bank (China) is one of the oldest international banks in the country, with its first branch in Shanghai set up in 1858, followed by flourishing and expanding operations thereafter. The bank boasts a presence across 30 coastal and in-land cities in China, reflecting its long-term commitment to the country.
Anticipating a huge growth in the use of its digital services in a post-pandemic world, the bank placed a stringent focus on creating a better digital experience, especially on the SC Mobile App, to deepen client engagement.
For its efforts in delivering a new and improved app and adding more features for customers, Standard Chartered Bank China won the Best Mobile Banking Initiative – China award at the Global Retail Banking Innovation Awards 2024, hosted by The Digital Banker in Singapore.
Enhancing the mobile app
For clients, the new and improved SC China Mobile APP offers a fast, secure and user-friendly mobile banking experience, designed to take care of customers’ banking needs on the go – anytime, anywhere. For the bank, SC China Mobile App enhances the bank’s digital engagement capability by providing an array of digital features.
Streamlining the client experience from pre-login to post-login has resulted in fewer steps to complete common tasks. Customers can save time spent on visiting branches physically and can avail the relationship manager’s assistance online under a secure environment. The app boasts a new, dedicated dashboard that allows customers to view all products, accounts and holdings in one place. The new modern look and feel with simplified navigation and faster loading times has enabled the client to bank quickly and efficiently.
For the bank, this change has resulted in a dramatic increase in its app store rating, with hundreds of positive comments for the new app.
As its key engine for growth in a digital era, the enhanced SC Mobile App has reaped significant results for the bank, including a 43% year-on-year (YOY) increase in one-month mobile active users, as well as a 39% YOY increase in digital sales revenue.
However, this hasn’t stopped the bank from adding new features over 2024. New capabilities include dedicated mobile real estate for investment, payments, marketing; platform enhancements; enhanced payment capabilities; MyWealth to meet clients’ wealth needs; MVOG for global resources to analyse financial markets; and a webinar function for clients to register and watch live on the app.
Additionally, SC China is the first market in the Standard Chartered Group to launch Mobile App Pre-login features to strengthen digital engagement with clients. This feature provides needs-based and insight-led content on pre-login and builds direct purchase capabilities from pre-login content to post-login deal booking pages.
Commenting on its stategy, Standard Chartered Bank China says: “We made a strategic decision that we’d rather disrupt ourselves than be disrupted.
“We need to transform further and transform faster. Looking ahead, we will be focusing on innovation and technology, putting innovation at the heart of what we do, and enabling us to make bold, new moves in our markets and catalyst leaps in our growth.”
“Specifically on the digital service front, we are accelerating the transformation of the acquisition model from off-line to on-line, providing a client-centric digital solution which is 24/7, real-time, and has straight-through capabilities with minimum steps not only on our own digital platforms but also part of the digital ecosystem in the market.”
Richard Li, Head of CPBB & DCE, Standard Chartered China, added: “SC China mobile banking app has been completely refreshed. This is our key engine in the digital era to build our proposition ‘Wealth Expertise Made’.”
