Standard Chartered Bank Korea and PayKey drive embedded banking transformation

By Edil Corneille

Standard Chartered Bank Korea has expanded its partnership with Tel Aviv-based PayKey, an Israeli FinTech powering frictionless mobile banking experience. The collaboration entails the launch of a keyboard-based solution for the customers of the SC Mobile Banking app. The solution brings embedded banking to the consumer. The new solution allows customers to manage all of their bank accounts through the keyboard in any mobile app, including KakaoTalk, WhatsApp, Naver, among others.

The open banking platform leveraged by Standard Chartered, allows customers to instantly access account balances and transact from multiple checking accounts of different Korean banks, all from the keyboard’s interface. In the future, the solution may extend access to investment accounts, trading apps, and non-banking financial services, for centralised financial management in a single interface.

“Over the past year, the Standard Chartered Bank Korea digital team has worked tirelessly in creating an all new mobile banking experience with new technology. The new keyboard banking solution is an example of how an institution can create a superior bank-branded mobile experience within some of the most popular and often-used smartphone apps,” Joseph Hyung Ki Cho, Head of Digital and Personal Banking at Standard Chartered Bank Korea enunciated.

The solution launches against the backdrop of recent regulatory changes in South Korea’s financial ecosystem, comparable to the EU’s PSD2 and the UK’s Open Banking Standard, contributing to a new era of banking. This new era not only removes barriers for customers but also positions financial services closer to customers for more personalised experiences. In this new phase of the long-standing partnership, PayKey’s banking keyboard enables Standard Chartered to seamlessly deliver financial services and open banking to customers, right in their social messaging environments.

“The launch of Standard Chartered’s new keyboard solution marks a significant leap forward in delivering an embedded banking experience that puts the customer’s preferences at the core. Nowadays banks must weave their services into customers’ digital lives, and provide the financial services customers need when and where it’s most convenient for them,” Sheila Kagan, PayKey’s CEO enunciated. “We are thrilled to see that Standard Chartered is pioneering a new banking experience, and are honoured to bridge the gap between Standard Chartered’s impressive portfolio of banking services and their customers’ digital lives.”

FinTechs are more agile when it comes to the rollout of banking solutions as compared to traditional institutions with their legacy infrastructure. Open banking is definitely a game-changer for the financial services industry. It is the role of regulators to ensure that banks build the necessary Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and keep them open so that startups as well as banks can facilitate the customisation of financial services. The sharing of the vast repository of customer data which has been traditionally held by banks, with relevant third party providers (TPPs) transpires upon the consent of the customer. Countries in Asia have taken a market-driven approach in the space of open banking which is generally not government regulated.