04 Oct 2022

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) of Botswana has reportedly attained optimum digitilisation.

Briefing the media on Monday, the Head of Consumer, Private and Business Banking, Mr Bino Rasedisa said the bank was aligned to the government’s agenda of  digitalisation for ease of doing banking.

Mr Rasedisa said their greatest success was being a highly inclusive organisation in the market that allowed customers to open accounts digitally, anywhere in Botswana.

He said it had taken a lot of work and financial investment to ensure that Batswana across the country were able to interact in account opening and utilise the services of an international bank.

He said they had partnered with local firms, citing partnership with a company that delivered cards on upon account opening.

Mr Rasedisa stated that digitilised solutions ensured that customers accessed any type of assistance through online platforms, without having to travel.

“For example, if a customer has an expired ID they do not have to drive from Letlhakane to go to Maun just to go and update their ID. They can simply take a picture of their ID and other relevant KYC documents to upload onto their phones and submit,” he said.

He added that a customer had a chance to block or replace their card, if it was compromised, and a replacement would be delivered to them.

Mr Rasedisa said they had channels that supported clients remotely such as USSD, *123#, followed by type of service, in cases where customers did not have data to make transactions.

He said any customer, with airtime, was able to push transactions, view their balances and do anything from the comfort of their home.

“These are things that we are proud of as Standard Chartered Bank and we continue to see how we invest to even improve on these services,” he said.

On other matters, Mr Rasedisa said the bank had gone on a drive to educate customers, including those that did not bank with them, about the importance of financial freedom.

He said they were teaching Batswana how to start looking at their future and what they did with their residual income, adding that they did not want Batswana to just put the monies into a savings account and come forth to solicit loans.

Rather, Mr Rasedisa said they wanted to have a conversation about how they could save for the future and grow their wealth through investment services.

He said they had recently hired 13 new relationship managers and business heads to drive the affluent segment, together with wealth management.

This, he said, was something that was not only going to be serving the elite, but all demographics of Batswana, to teach and help build a prosperous future.

Mr Rasedisa said in the next 5 to 10 years, government might not be able to sponsor students for tertiary education, hence the need to start discussing such issues with Batswana today, for an enhanced, educated future. BOPA