Standard Bank has rolled out a substantially upgraded business banking platform that shifts greater control to customers, allowing businesses to manage their own electronic payment limits, user entitlements and fraud protections without calling a relationship manager.
The R1-billion re-platforming project, built in collaboration with vendor Backbase, represents the bank’s bid to stay ahead of fintech competitors by offering functionality that matches or exceeds what specialist players provide – but across a full suite of banking products.
“It’s very important for Standard Bank and the Standard Bank brand to be on the leading edge of technology, whatever that is, at whatever point in time that is,” said Bill Blackie, head of business banking at Standard Bank, in an interview with TechCentral on Monday. “Our goal is to make sure that all of our products are competitive and all are digitised.”
Standard Bank remains the largest IT spender by some distance among its peers in South Africa’s banking sector. In the year to 31 December 2024 (the numbers for 2025 have yet to be made available), the bank spent R22-billion on IT.
The platform’s standout feature is its ability to scale with businesses as they grow. Where entrepreneurs in small businesses initially handle all banking functions themselves, the new system allows them to delegate specific permissions as they hire finance staff – a financial director might get approval rights, while a bookkeeper gets payment initiation access.
“These are all things that ultimately the customers will be able to do with this platform that they can’t do with our existing systems,” Blackie explained.
Real-time control
The entitlements management capability addresses a key pain point: businesses previously had to contact their relationship manager or visit a branch to adjust who could perform banking functions. Now they control it themselves in real time.
Enhanced fraud controls and accounting software integration round out the platform’s competitive positioning, offering a new set of features that prior systems could not support.
Although individual fintechs may offer competitive features in specific areas, Blackie said Standard Bank’s strategy is to ensure competitive digital offerings across all its business banking products – leveraging its scale as a full-service bank.
Read: The South African bank racing ahead of its peers in IT spending growth
“With specific products, you may find individual fintechs have one or two products that are competitive. But our goal here is to make sure that all of our products are competitive and all are digitised,” he said.
The platform is built on card rails but supports multiple payment mechanisms, including the recently launched PayShap for business for smaller-value transactions, alongside traditional cash and card payments.
Standard Bank has migrated 140 000 businesses onto the new platform and aims to complete the roll-out to all business banking customers by year-end, though Blackie acknowledged the timeline may stretch into 2027 depending on the pace of customer onboarding and education.
The bank is tracking success through channel net promoter score (NPS) metrics, daily transaction volumes and usage statistics. Customer feedback from those who have completed the transition has been positive, though Blackie compared the learning curve to switching between operating systems.
“It’s a little bit like whether you’re on Apple or Android. It’s a different operating system. And so, both us and the customer need to get comfortable with that new operating system. Once it’s in place and customers are on it, we’re getting very good feedback,” he said.
Beyond South African competitiveness, the platform lays the groundwork for Standard Bank’s continental ambitions. The bank operates in 20 African countries and sees digital infrastructure as a way to facilitate seamless cross-border business banking across its African footprint.
“We want to digitise that whole process across the continent as a whole. So, almost think of it as one big market. Ultimately, as a bank, we can help customers bank on the continent as a single unit,” said Blackie.
The strategy aligns with Standard Bank Group CEO Sim Tshabalala’s focus on African growth through the African Continental Free Trade Area. The bank separated business banking from retail specifically to build specialist capabilities for serving small businesses as they scale.
‘Natural extension’
The platform also positions Standard Bank to compete not just with local banks in each market but with pan-African fintech players seeking to capture the continent’s growing digital payments market.
Read: Standard Bank spent R22.4-billion on IT in 2024
“If you’re going to grow Africa, you have to be able to service effectively and efficiently small businesses as they grow. This is a natural extension of that strategy,” said Blackie. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
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