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Standard Chartered Bank has launched its mobile and online banking platform to one million customers across eight African countries.  

In a statement released on Tuesday, the UK banking giant said its digital banking services will launch in Nigeria, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe in the first half of 2016.

"We are committed to making banking easier, faster and safer for our more than 1 million retail clients across Africa,” said Jaydeep Gupta, Standard Chartered’s regional head of Retail Banking for Africa and the Middle East. “This multi-country roll-out is in line with our promise to bring world-class products and functionality to Africa . . . By early next year, we expect at least 35 percent of all client transactions to be done through online channels, significantly advancing the transformation of banking in Africa.”

Standard Chartered said the launch of its mobile and online platforms is part of its strategy of using digital technology to deliver the future of banking to clients in Africa. Last year, the bank announced that it will invest $1.5 billion in technology globally over three years.

With Africa’s mobile penetration estimated to be around 67 percent, StanChart said it is bringing its mobile banking application for the first time to Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In Nigeria and Ghana, however, mobile banking clients will move to the Bank’s standard global platform.

Standard Chartered said it is also upgrading its online banking platform in all these eight markets so that clients will benefit from improved navigation and user-friendly interfaces on the Bank’s websites.

“We’re bringing the best in mobile banking to Africa – consumers across the continent are increasingly affluent and tech-savvy and they want convenient access to their bank, wherever they happen to be,” said Karen Fawcett, Standard Chartered’s CEO for Retail Banking.