Standard Chartered has launched a banking-as-a-service solution enabling digital platforms and e-commerce firms to offer loans, credit cards, savings accounts and other banking services under their own brand name.

The banking giant said it had already signed a “major e-commerce player in Indonesia” as its first partner for the project named Nexus, but declined to name the company. It expects to be able to co-create and launch products powered by Nexus in 2021, subject to regulatory approvals.

Indonesia has the highest e-commerce adoption rate in the world at 88 per cent and piloting Nexus in the country gives Standard Chartered the opportunity to reach the unbanked and expand its customer base in the world’s fourth most populous country.

The bank intends to further roll out the service to markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East with the right regulatory frameworks and established digital platforms.

Standard Chartered said it hoped the move would enable it to tap into the $29 trillion e-commerce market and the fast growing platform businesses.

The solution was incubated at SC Ventures, its innovation, investment and ventures arm. It started from a business plan mooted by an employee, who now leads the venture with a team of over 100 developers, engineers and business development professionals across three markets.

Bill Winters, group chief executive of Standard Chartered, said: “Nexus is potentially transformational for the bank and our customers, we will actively partner with leading consumer platforms in our markets to enable convenient access to financial services to millions of new, tech-savvy customers.

“We are starting with Indonesia, as part of our strategy to grow digitally and expand our business in this important, fast growing market.”

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