KAMPALA– Standard Chartered Bank Uganda days ago held a thought leadership event to discuss business immersion in Sustainable Trade Finance for over 100 corporate and SME business leaders at Sheraton Kampala Hotel.
The Sustainable Trade Finance Event and the Straight2Ban Next Gen platform launch were presided over by David Bahati, the Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Co-operatives and Joyce Nabbosa Ssebugwawo the State Minister for ICT and National Guidance, respectively.
The Standard Chartered Bank Business immersion on Sustainable Trade Finance event flagged off Tuesday evening by drawing the attention of all stakeholders to the urgency to flatten the curve of greenhouse gas emissions and bring them down to net zero to avert a climate pandemic.
While delivering his keynote address, Minister Bahati said: “While all of us at an individual level should play a part to combat the effects of climate change through change of our habits and lifestyle to reduce our personal carbon footprint, this can only go so far. We need system-level solutions through partnerships between government, the private sector and development organisations for effective and permanent change.”
Bahati said the banking, finance and investment communities play a critical role in facilitating investments in renewable energy solutions and carbon neutral technologies. “We are therefore very happy as the Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives to see Standard Chartered Bank taking the lead on the journey towards net zero emissions through business awareness symposiums such as this and extending robust sustainable Trade Finance solutions to the Business community in Uganda. Through sustainable Trade Financing solutions, we should see growth in the supply and demand for green investments.”
Patrick Makau, the Executive Principal, the Standard Chartered Head of Trade and Working Capital Kenya and East Africa said: “As Standard Chartered Bank we have taken the responsibility for the progress in our communities and that is why we are advocating for sustainable finance.”
The executives participated in a panel discussion focusing on various aspects and criticality of environmental conservation, appealing to the audience to embrace and own the responsibility of preventing a looming environmental catastrophe.
At the Straight2Bank NextGen launch event, the Standard Chartered Bank Uganda Board Chairperson and former Finance Minister, Maria Kiwanuka addressed the participants, reminding them of the bank’s strategy and commitment.
She continued: “One of the Bank’s STANDs of Lifting Participation aims to improve the lives of 1 billion people and their communities globally, by unleashing the full potential of women and lifting participation of Small Businesses in our core markets by providing access to finance, networks, training young people, driving accessible banking at scale and connecting affluent clients to opportunities for making a societal impact.”
The Straight2Bank Next Gen solution will enable women and youth-led SMEs access the best digital business banking solutions to grow their businesses in a fast, smart and easier way.
On his part, Standard Chartered Bank Uganda CEO, Sanjay Rughani stated: “As Standard Chartered Bank we have kept innovating after taking into account our clients’ feedback which informed an upgrade to our Straight2Bank Corporate platform to the newly unveiled Straight2Bank NextGen platform which mainly focuses on security, convenience and digitizing of Trade Finance and Payments.”
He added: At Standard Chartered, we have a three-pronged innovation approach to differentiate, disrupt growth and transform the Bank to achieve our goals and these include transforming our core via digitisation, leveraging partnerships to drive scale, and extend reach as we build new business models to create value. We are therefore committed to transforming banking using technology as the Main Digital Bank in Uganda.”
He said the digital innovations are aimed at making banking services fully accessible, inclusive, faster, simple, and offer unrivalled convenience whenever and wherever the bank’s clients are. “I am therefore pleased to be part of this ceremony as we unveil our state-of-the-art platform Straight2Bank Nextgen platform that will offer corporate clients, SMEs, and other businesses an unrivalled digital experience.”
Minister Ssebugwawo said that banks are one of the biggest drivers and consumers of IT as they become increasingly reliant on heavily skilled technologists to instruct IT systems and invest in systems. “Such usage and investments are inevitably driving improvements in banks’ digital systems and as banks continue to invest smartly in digitization, they are reaping massive rewards. As we celebrate the strides made by banks in the technological space, however, we need to stay focused on the negative implications like the inherent risks, fraud, and losses in their sector,” she said.
https://thecooperator.news/standard-chartered-bank-uganda-gets-new-boss/
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