Standard Chartered customers can now do their mobile banking through social media platforms. Starting this month, the London-based company is letting customers in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe transfer money to friends, view account balances and pay bills through social media platforms, including Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

In a move reminiscent of Chinese apps Alipay and WeChat, Standard Chartered is hoping to enhance digital banking use by piggybacking peer-to-peer payments on top of social media platforms. In a statement, Jaydeep Gupta, regional head of retail banking for Africa and the Middle East at the bank, said the social payment capability, called SC Keyboard, was designed to serve the needs of clients.

When chatting with friends, users can click an icon, and the keyboard will show the option to pay or view balances. The user must verify with a thumbprint before sending money or checking accounts directly in the social media app. Consequently, SC Keyboard is compatible only with iPhones and Android devices with thumbprint verification capabilities. The daily transfer limit is $1,282, or 1.2 million Kenyan Shillings.

Standard Chartered sees African markets as a growth area, launching its app in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Ghana last year. In Kenya alone, McKinsey data indicates 86% of Kenyan households use some form of mobile payment. Despite the opportunity, Standard Chartered is playing catch-up given the pervasiveness of money transfer app M-Pesa, which already boasts 25.57 million users in the country. Meanwhile,  3.77 million Kenyans use Airtel Payments.

Regardless, banks and payment providers still see opportunity in Africa, given the high rates of mobile adoption. According to the We Are Social Global Digital Report 2019, 80% of the African population has a mobile subscription. In Nigeria, where Standard Chartered plans to launch its mobile app in September, the mobile payment app Paga has more than 12 million customers and is looking to expand to other African countries. Meanwhile, Nigerian peer-to-peer payments platform OPay confirmed a $50 million fundraising round this week, claiming it processes $5 million in transactions daily. 

Standard Chartered has introduced a host of new digital offerings in recent years, including digital account opening, ATM withdrawals through QR codes and a chatbot called Stacy, which acts like a personal money manager.