StanChart Deepens China Focus With Innovation Lab Launch

U.K. bank Standard Chartered is expanding its network of innovation labs with the launch of an eXellerator lab in Shanghai, reports said this week.

NS Banking said Wednesday (Aug. 7) that the Shanghai opening adds to Standard Chartered’s existing network of labs, which are open in Singapore, Hong Kong, Kenya, London and San Francisco. The latest lab will aim to promote collaboration between the bank’s employees, corporate clients and FinTech partners to develop new financial services for businesses.

Operating as an incubator, the Singapore eXellerator lab will aim to strengthen the bank’s financial services innovation efforts within China, with the bank pointing to the market’s leadership in cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, mobile payments and biometrics.

Standard Chartered plans to collaborate with local FinTechs to help scale their own solutions in the market while working with corporate clients to develop emerging products to address their needs, particularly in the area of cross-border payments, reports said.

“Rapid changes in financial technology are reshaping the future of the global banking industry, especially here in China, which is home to some of the world’s most established companies leading the way in areas like artificial intelligence and Big Data,” said Standard Chartered Bank China CEO Jerry Zhang in a statement. “Given the strategic importance of this market to the group, our innovation center in Shanghai will play a crucial role to support us in proactively reinventing ourselves by bringing together our people, clients and FinTechs to co-create and deliver the next generation of products and services.

The labs are a part of Standard Chartered’s venture capital arm SC Ventures, reports noted.

“To truly rewire the DNA in banking, we need to go beyond just offering a digital interface,” SC Ventures global head Alex Manson added in another statement. “Our eXellerators create an environment which combines innovation from both in and outside the bank to rapidly prototype and experiment with new ideas and business models that will allows us to better serve our clients with solutions that address their problems or needs.”