Standard Chartered Emphasizing Digital With Nigerian Branch Closures

Standard Chartered Plc will close about half of its Nigeria branches as the company emphasizes digital banking, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg for its report Monday (Jan. 10), starting with some office closures in December and leaving the London lender with 13 branches when it’s done.

That number is down from 25 across the west African country, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News.

Standard Chartered will focus on bolstering its mobile banking capabilities and recruiting employees who can better assist new customers and handle cash deposits and withdrawals across Africa’s biggest economy, said Bloomberg’s sources, who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly.

A Standard Chartered spokeswoman declined to comment when reached by Bloomberg and said the company would address future plans at the “appropriate time.”

Related: Pine Labs, Standard Chartered Malaysia Debut BNPL Offering

In November, Indian FinTech firm Pine Labs partnered with Standard Chartered Malaysia on a buy now, pay later (BNPL) offering that includes 0% installments on credit cards at the more than 25,000 merchants across Malaysia equipped with Pine Labs point of sale (POS) terminals.

Pine Labs launched its BNPL services in Malaysia in March after the offering debuted in India.

Also read: Standard Chartered Signs 10-Year Deal with BNPL Firm Atome Financial

In October, Standard Chartered inked a 10-year partnership with Singapore-based buy now, pay later platform Atome Financial, making it the first major bank to jump into the sector across Asia.

As part of the deal, Standard Chartered will invest an undisclosed amount of equity in Atome, which has customers across southeast Asia and beyond, and Indonesian digital lending platform Kredit Pintar. A statement from Standard Chartered called the move one of their “largest strategic investments in a FinTech to date.”

Standard Chartered will also provide financing of $500 million to support Atome Financial as it works to expand its merchants and customer bases.

Read next: Standard Chartered and Demica Team on Digital Portal

Also in October, Standard Chartered teamed up with working capital FinTech Demica on a new online portal to streamline access to the bank’s supplier finance program.