When Sarabjit Singh first heard of fintech specialist soCash – which allows customers to withdraw cash from shops or make loan applications at the checkouts – a process of brainstorming began at Standard Chartered Bank.As Regional Chief Information Officer, Singh's interest piqued as to how the approach could solve reach problems for the banking giant, alongside improving the retail client experience.Following discussions with retail banking and technology leaders, Singh and his team dedicated efforts to bring soCash to life. The move was designed to provide payment and cash convenience for customers, while increasing operational efficiency and eliminating the need to install more ATMs.This year, Singh spearheaded the thinking and design of a technology service monitoring tool, created to proactively identify potential issues before a user could be impacted.Aware of critical client journeys, the tool automatically triggers notifications to support staff at pre-defined thresholds for early investigation and recovery.Since launch, system availability and self-discovery / recovery rates have improved, resulting in an improvement of the company's Net Promoter Scores (NPS).According to Singh, the monitoring tool is one example of Standard Chartered Bank building DNA into the heart of the business.As users become more sophisticated and digitally savvy, employees are encouraged to innovate across the organisation. An example of this is SC Ventures, a platform and catalyst for Standard Chartered to promote innovation, invest in disruptive financial technology and explore alternative business models.Through SC ventures, the business has invested in fintechs such as Ripple; Paxata; Symphony; Digital Reasoning and Silent Eight, with five eXellerator labs set up to develop innovation ecosystems across key markets.
