Standard Chartered has announced the global launch of the working capital and lending capability on its Straight2Bank (S2B) platform. The Straight2Bank solution is the bank’s online banking platform for businesses to manage their transaction banking needs.

S2B Loans is a new module which allows clients to initiate and approve new loan drawdown and rollover requests. In addition to providing a real time view of the facility limits and utilisations, clients can also track the maturities of their outstanding transactions and repayment dates. By digitising and simplifying the end-to-end exchange of information, the bank wants the clients to be able to view real time updates on the progress of their loan requests, thereby benefitting from transparency and cost efficiencies across the supply chain.

This capability has been created with the purpose of eliminating the challenges associated with paper-based loan drawdowns, including the inefficient process of physical signatures as well as the manual tracking of limits and transaction status. S2B loans is currently available in the Bank’s key markets, with a progressive roll out across the rest of its footprint. Standard Chartered spreading across the world Although based in the UK, Standard Chartered has been making developments in the Asian market lately.

In November 2022 it partnered US-based fintech platform upSWOT to launch a pilot in Singapore to offer the bank’s SME clients intelligent forecasting capabilities on a single digital platform. Upon signing up for this pilot programme, Standard Chartered’s SME clients can connect the business apps that they use with upSWOT, for the fintech company to generate real-time insights and dashboard analysis using the data aggregated. upSWOT can collect, integrate, and reconcile banking transactions and business data from apps that provide services from accounting, ecommerce, and marketing to customer relationship management.

In February the next year the company enabled Allinpay’s merchants in Hong Kong to accept PayNow instant payments in Singapore dollars via QR code. With the new partnership Singapore PayNow can now be used to make Singapore dollar instant payments at Allinpay’s participating merchants in Hong Kong. The solution is made possible with Standard Chartered’s proprietary solutions including its omnichannel gateway ‘Straight2Bank Pay’ and API-based FX pricing engine ‘SCALE’.

Investments into mining Possessing such a colourful portfolio, the bank is always looking to diversify its business. Proof of this is the MoU it signed with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources to improve investments in mining. The memorandum of understanding aims to promote knowledge transfer, job creation, and technology enablement, as well as the implementation of the Future Minerals Forum outcomes.

It also encourages local as well as international investors to explore more opportunities in the mining and mineral sectors in Saudi Arabia. MoU will also focus on the cooperation between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and the Standard Chartered Bank, while concentrating on accelerating the process of their projects and investments in the mineral and mining value chains, such as the green metals or the batter components. .