SC Mobile
Account opening from anywhere
SC Mobile
Global banking
Experience Leadership
Standard Chartered’s SC Mobile app in Africa offers a fast, intuitive digital account opening on iOS and Android, guiding users through a simple, step‑by‑step process with real‑time validation and integrated identity verification, allowing them to open a bank account confidently without visiting a branch. The project started in 2017 and piloted in the Cote d’Ivoire after 1 year of agile development. The goal of the bank was to close down branches and automate sales processes for onboarding new banking clients across 9 African markets. With a core focus on onboarding new clients with a turnaround speed of 3-5 days to receive an open bank account and a delivered debit card the goal was benchmarked against many top UAE digital banks. Along with a disruptive onboarding option available to new banking clients we also introduced a save and resume functionality and built-in client communication reminders in email marketing and SMS. Once new banking prospects became existing clients we also then digitised over 77 digital banking features on the app using innovative techniques to integrate into the legacy banking IT systems. The project rolled out across 9 African Markets between 2018 and 2019 and has won 14 out of 16 Global Finance Awards and continues to earn digital banking accolades in Africa.
Challenge
The biggest challenge was compliance. To meet KYC, OFAC sanctions screening and anti-money-laundering requirements, the bank needed more than 66 pieces of information from every applicant, and each market’s central bank added rules of its own. Our job was to fit all of that into a mobile flow that someone new to banking could finish in five to seven minutes. We worked with legal advisers and regulators early, and built a requirements template that each market could adapt to its local law. Through Design Thinking workshops, we turned a dense paper application into something closer to a conversation. Sanctions questions such as “Are you a US person?” moved to the start, so people who weren’t eligible found out straight away instead of after 20 fields. Our assumptions about users were also wrong. The bank’s brand was strongest among white-collar professionals, so that’s who we expected to design for. When we ran usability testing in French with locals in Côte d’Ivoire, we found that many applicants were wives who wanted to save money of their own, and that their identity documents were often in their husbands’ names. Nothing in our earlier research had shown this. Adding marriage certificates as an accepted document changed who could open an account. It was a reminder that the most important insights often only appear when you sit with real people in their own context. Getting through onboarding was its own problem. About 57% of applications weren’t going straight through, mostly because uploaded documents were blurry or poor quality and back-office compliance rejected them. Most customers had never photographed an ID document for a bank before, so we redesigned the upload screens with clearer guidance. We also worked with operations to relax some in-office rules made for photocopies, not phone cameras. We tracked the numbers closely and released fixes every two weeks. In Ghana, tiered accounts and a National ID connection supported by the local government brought onboarding under five minutes. Delivery was also harder than usual. Standard Chartered has 110,000 employees, and every decision needed approval at country, regional and group level, with Group based in Singapore. All content was produced in French as well as English, which doubled the work for copy, testing and communications, and early international calls were often hard to hear. We also learned not to over-react to single pieces of feedback. Complexity added in response to one-off comments made the form harder to use, so in version two we went back to a simpler flow. Despite these constraints, SC Mobile launched across nine African markets, with account openings up about 800% and retail sales up an average of 856%.
Solution
We redesigned account opening as a guided conversation instead of a paper form on a phone screen. In Design Thinking workshops with business, compliance and technology teams, we mapped the full application by hand and broke it into short sections in a clear, logical order. Eligibility and sanctions questions came first, so applicants weren’t eligible found out within seconds. Fast input patterns such as date pickers cut down typing and errors, and inline validation caught mistakes before they reached back-office compliance. Clients could verify their identity on their phones: they uploaded documents, took a live video with an eye-blink liveness check and signed digitally. A wet signature was collected only when their debit card was delivered. The application had more than 66 fields, so people needed to know where they were and how much was left. We used a “train journey” progress tracker that showed the current stop, the next one and the time remaining. Background colours changed with each stage, darker for one-time password (OTP) screens and white for forms, and green marked each completed section. We also introduced Save and Resume, a first for the bank. Applicants could leave at any point and return securely through two-factor OTP login. Home screen tiles labelled Start, Resume and Track made the next step obvious, and a receipt confirmed each submission. Accessibility and inclusion were built in from the start. We designed to W3C AAA contrast, sized touch targets, fonts and buttons for a 70-year-old user, and kept the flow linear so first-time banking customers were never left wondering what to do next. Every screen was written and tested in French as well as English. After usability testing in Côte d’Ivoire showed that many applicants were wives whose documents were held in their husbands’ names, we added marriage certificates as an accepted proof document. That change opened the bank to a large group of customers it had never reached. After launch, we kept improving the product using real data. When many applications stalled on poor-quality document uploads, we redesigned the capture guidance and worked with operations to update back-office rules made for photocopies, not phone cameras. We tracked KPIs closely and shipped fixes in two-week sprints. In version two we deliberately simplified the form after earlier rounds had become too complex. A requirements template let each market adapt the core design to local regulation. In Ghana, that meant tiered accounts and a National ID connection, which brought onboarding to under five minutes. The result was a single, scalable digital bank across nine African markets, with account openings up about 800% and retail sales up an average of 856%.
Result
SC Mobile changed how Standard Chartered acquired retail customers in Africa. After piloting in Côte d’Ivoire, the app rolled out across nine African markets between 2018 and 2019, giving the bank a scalable digital channel where it had relied on branches. New accounts per market grew by about 800%, and retail banking sales rose by an average of 856% across the nine markets. An application that once needed a branch visit and paperwork could now be completed on a phone in five to seven minutes, with a debit card delivered to the customer. In Ghana, the National ID connection and tiered accounts brought onboarding to under five minutes. The product also reached people the bank hadn’t been serving. Accepting marriage certificates as proof of identity opened accounts to women whose documents were held in their husbands’ names, and unlocked about 40% of applicants who had previously been failing. For many customers, SC Mobile was their first bank account: a way to save, use a debit card and bank from anywhere without travelling to a branch. Because the app was designed for first-time banking users and older users, with AAA contrast, larger touch targets and a simple linear flow, these customers could actually use it. Usability testing scores were consistently strong, with most screens rated “great”. The bank also gained lasting capabilities from the project. Save and Resume with two-factor login, live video identity checks and digital signatures were new to the bank, and the requirements template meant each new market could launch faster on the same core design. Tracking KPIs and shipping fixes every two weeks gave the bank a data-driven way to keep improving after launch, and steadily raised the number of applications that went straight through. The work contributed to Standard Chartered’s recognition across more than 40 global banking and finance awards.
From our Client:
"It has been fun to work with William on the first digital bank in Africa project. William has demonstrate excellent problem solving skills and able to delivery on time despite tight timeline. William is a great team player and expert in the fields of design and web development. He is highly dependable and helped tremendously in provide effective solutions to technical/design inquires. I look forward to work with William in near future."
Victor Chan
AVP - Customer Experience