Updates: This article has been updated with more details on the digital banking platform.
Standard Chartered announced today it has formed a strategic partnership with Indonesian e-commerce giant Bukalapak, to launch “innovative offerings” as part of efforts to advance its focus on digital banking.
Hosted on the nexus platform – a banking-as-a-service solution by the bank’s innovation and venture arm SC Ventures, the partnership will see Standard Chartered provide digital financial services to Bukalapak’s customer base of more than 100 million users and 13.5 million sellers.
According to Diana Mudadalam, Head of Corporate Affairs, Standard Chartered Bank Indonesia, the nexus platform offers banking-as-a-service feature similar to a white label banking service which partners can offer under their own brand.
“By embedding nexus in the partner’s ecosystem, partners like e-commerce, hailing app, etcetera, can offer banking services and products in their offering line up, allowing greater customer engagement and ecosystem stickiness without having customers move around apps to do activities such as shopping, and do financial transaction,” she wrote in a message to e27.
She also added that commercial partnership in the context of the bank’s ventures is always separate and distinct from any investments they commit in SC Ventures and the bank.
As per a press release, the collaboration aims to boost financial inclusion in Indonesia and further support the country’s digital economic growth.
A recent survey by Standard Chartered revealed the pandemic has acted as a catalyst for the growth of online financial activity, with over half of global respondents using more online services in a post-pandemic world. Additionally, 80 per cent of Indonesians also expect the country to go fully cashless by 2025.
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This represents a large growth market for embedded finance, which Standard Chartered and Bukalapak aim to jointly capture through their digital finance solutions.
“Our inaugural partnership with Bukalapak reaffirms Standard Chartered Bank’s commitment to growing our footprint locally. We are confident that our partnership with Bukalapak will enable us to co-create a solution that drives financial inclusion in Indonesia,” said Andrew Chia, Cluster CEO, Indonesia & ASEAN Markets for Standard Chartered.
“Commerce and financial services are crucial aspects of the well-being of society, thus, the partnership increases our spirit to create A Fair Economy in Indonesia. With a global banking network, Standard Chartered participation in Bukalapak will further strengthen our current strong group of shareholders and strategic partners,” said Rachmat Kaimuddin, CEO Bukalapak.
This comes as part of Standard Chartered’s push to experiment with new business models to meet the evolving needs of its clients. The bank recently announced the official launch of Mox, its new virtual bank in Hong Kong, created in partnership with PCCW, HKT and Trip.com.
It also commercially launched digital open platform, Solv, to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India and other markets grow by providing access to financial and business services.
Bukalapak itself has been making moves in the fintech scene, starting with the launch of services such as mutual funds and gold transactions.
The news followed recent updates from Indonesian unicorn gojek which had recently invested in Bank Jago as part of its foray into fintech, particularly digital banking services.
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Anisa Menur Maulani also contributed to this story.
Image Credits: Standard Chartered
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