By adopting IBM’s Cloud Pak for Integration, Stanbic Bank Uganda is accelerating digital transformation, maximising operational efficiency, reducing integration costs while onboarding new APIs securely, and offering banking-as-a-service.
Stanbic Bank Uganda is Uganda’s largest commercial bank by assets, serving the market for over three decades. Stanbic Bank Uganda has selected IBM’s Cloud Pak for Integration, CP4I to modernise its business operations and enhance its customers’ experience. The move will assist the bank in accelerating its digital transformation, maximise operational efficiency and offer secure and compliant banking-as-a- services.
Stanbic Bank Uganda is a subsidiary of Stanbic Uganda Holdings, which is part of the Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest Bank measured by footprint and assets. Stanbic Uganda Holdings is comprised of five subsidiaries which include Stanbic Bank Uganda, Stanbic Properties, SBG Securities Uganda, Stanbic Business Incubator, and Fly Hub Uganda.
Stanbic Uganda’s Partnership and Ecosystems is a business unit responsible for driving the business aspiration of the bank. The division uses the bank’s e-services to simplify customers’ digital journeys and enhance their omnichannel experiences to create seamless interactions. The division is also at the forefront of coordinating networks and devices with internal offerings within the bank’s ecosystem to create value.
Market challenges
Since the pandemic, Uganda has prioritised smart policies to solve societal challenges and spark economic growth guided by the national development plan, Uganda Vision 2040. According to the UNDP, Uganda has made noticeable progress in its digitisation journey by strengthening its mobile network coverage to meet the needs of its growing digital-first population 4 million new mobile subscribers are expected to be live by 2025.
Over four million new mobile subscribers are expected to be live by 2025 in Uganda. There is an urgent need to modernise operations to create an integrated platform that enhances customers experiences and meets the growing needs and expectations of Uganda’s youthful and digital-first population. This business platform will enable Stanbic Uganda to meet its customer needs through various digital platforms where they shop, socialise and do business.
The move by Stanbic Bank Uganda is in line with global trends of embracing end-to-end digitisation to reshape operations and drive innovation.
The solution
IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, CP4I is a hybrid integration platform that leverages AI-powered automation across the integration lifecycle to improve use cases like natural language-powered integration flows, AI-assisted mapping, API test creation, anomaly detection and workload balancing.
It allows businesses to accelerate the development of integrations by re-using assets published to the asset repository and leveraging built-in smart connectors. It also helps organisations to achieve the optimal mix of legacy and new system development by modernising core applications to be cloud-native and unlocking the value of data and services while sun-setting other systems.
CP4I combines the complete set of tools and capabilities, enhancing them through automated deployment, eliminating the expensive maintenance downtime and multiple licensing fees accompanying other industry offerings.
With CP4I, IBM clients and partners have seen increased speeds in the development of their integration systems, reduced integration costs and increased overall operational efficiency, all while maintaining enhanced security, governance, and availability.
Stanbic Uganda integrated its Stanbic360 with IBM’s Cloud Pak for Integration. Stanbic360 is the bank’s API platform that connects internal and external APIs to support core banking apps and mobile banking operations. The platform allows customers to view their entire financial life across various financial institutions and ecosystem partners from one touchpoint.
Benefits
By adopting IBM’s CP4I, Stanbic Bank Uganda can accelerate its digital transformation, maximise operational efficiency and offer secure and compliant banking-as-a-service. It will be able to onboard and manage new secure APIs internally and externally with faster speed-to-market time for innovative solutions such as FlexiPay.
FlexiPay helps to enhance the banking experiences for customers at every touchpoint. The bank will also be able to strengthen its ecosystem by increasing integration with fintech companies, neo-banks, and telecom partners, making it more flexible to evolving customer and business demands while complying with strict industry regulations.
Stanbic Bank Uganda can now integrate its payment systems to support the functionalities of core banking apps and mobile baking operations. This will also allow the bank to meet digital customer expectations by strengthening its ecosystem with fintechs, neo-banks, and telecom partners.
By working with IBM, Stanbic Bank Uganda can offer integrated and seamless banking experiences which enhances the user experience. In this process, agility, security and quality of integration have been prioritised. Digital services are key to growing e-customers who prefer transacting from the palm of their hands.
“By integrating secure APIs with our ecosystem partners, we are able to meet customer’s needs and expectations,” says Serunjogi.
The hybrid cloud approach will further improve the bank’s competitive edge by becoming more flexible to evolving customer and business demands while compliant with strict industry regulations.
“We are pleased to be on a journey with Stanbic Bank Uganda to expedite their digital footprint and elevate the overall customer experience. By leveraging our expertise, we aim to empower the bank to expand its reach, cater to wider audiences, and provide innovative digital solutions that meet the evolving needs of customers. Our joint efforts will enable the bank to offer an unparalleled customer experience and drive the growth of the financial digital ecosystem in Uganda,” says Julia Carvalho, General Manager for IBM Africa Growth Markets.
Stanbic Bank Uganda will continue to prioritise customer experiences as more people in Uganda become digitally connected by innovating quickly and efficiently. This is in line with current trends as industry research has shown that more than half 54% of African CEOs identify customer experience as their highest business priority for 2023.
Benefits of IBM’s Cloud Pak for Integration, CP4I
- CP4I improves use cases like natural language-powered integration flows, AI-assisted mapping, API test creation, anomaly detection and workload balancing.
- CP4I allows businesses to accelerate the development of integrations by re-using assets published to the asset repository and leveraging built-in smart connectors.
- CP4I also helps organisations to achieve the optimal mix of legacy and new system development by modernising core applications to be cloud-native.
- CP4I combines the complete set of tools and capabilities, enhancing them through automated deployment, eliminating the expensive maintenance downtime and multiple licensing fees accompanying other industry offerings.
- End users and partners have seen increased speeds in the development of their integration systems, reduced integration costs, increased overall operational efficiency, while maintaining security and governance.
- The platform allows customers to view their entire financial life across various financial institutions and ecosystem partners from one touchpoint.
- Stanbic Bank Uganda can onboard and manage new secure APIs internally and externally with faster speed-to-market time for solutions such as FlexiPay.
- Stanbic Bank Uganda can integrate payment systems to support the functionalities of core banking apps and mobile baking operations.
- Stanbic Bank Uganda can offer integrated and seamless banking experiences which enhances the user experience.
- The hybrid cloud approach will improve the bank’s competitive edge by becoming more flexible to evolving customer and business demands.
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