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Standard Chartered's innovation arm launches audax, enable banks and FIs to modernise and scale at speed

Nicole Lim
·3-min read

audax will service the entire client lifecycle. Prior to its launch, it serviced all-commerce Indonesian platform Bukalapak.

SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s innovation fintech investment and ventures arm, has launched a digital banking technology solutions provider called audax. It will help banks and financial institutions modernise and scale “at speed”, according to a release dated Sept 21.

Audax provides an end-to-end digital banking platform with modularised capabilities that can handle millions of customer data concurrently. It will service the entire client lifecycle — from client and staff interfaces, to deposits and lending products, to client servicing and data reporting.

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The solution is built to complement incumbent banks’ core systems, while its infrastructure-agnostic technology enables banks to pursue modern digital transformation without the need for costly and time-consuming in-house development or migration.

This announcement comes at a time when the business-to-business to any-end-user (B2B2X) market is expected to reach US$440 billion ($601.68 billion) in annual revenues, driven by advancements in the financial infrastructure, digital banking and embedded finance space.

The release notes that audax will play a part in this growth market by helping incumbent banks in two distinct use cases: digital banking and banking-as-a-service (BaaS).

Before its launch, audax’s solution powered Standard Chartered nexus (SC nexus), a white-label plug-and-play BaaS offering for large ecosystem players. It had partnerships with Indonesian all-commerce platform Bukalapak. Through audax’s technology, SC nexus allowed the simplification of digital account opening for Bukalapak, as fast as just two minutes, since customers do not have to visit a physical branch or speak to a banker to complete an application.

This was achieved through audax’s advanced automation and security technologies that employ artificial intelligence, biometric facial recognition and E-KTP (Indonesia’s biometrics-enabled ID programme) validation.

SC nexus will work with Sociolla, a beauty e-commerce platform to set up digital banking for their customers. audax is also slated to support SC nexus with its third partner in a second market, targeted to launch in the fourth quarter of 2023.

“audax’s digital banking solutions will help financial institutions unlock more opportunities,” says Alex Manson, who leads SC Ventures. “The successful partnership between Standard Chartered and Bukalapak to launch BukaTabungan is an example of how audax has provided a truly paperless, digital banking access, serving Bukalapak’s ecosystem of more than 150 million users and 20 million business owners. Going forward, audax can achieve the same for any other financial institution looking to partner with any platform.”

The former managing director and global head of SC nexus, Kelvin Tan, will lead audax as its CEO, together with most of his incumbent team. audax will continue to serve Standard Chartered in a commercial capacity by powering its BaaS proposition, SC nexus, for current and future partnerships.

“The meaning of audax is ‘courage’ – and that is exactly the defining characteristic of the team we’ve built and needed for what we are about to achieve,” says Tan. “We are excited to push the frontiers of what is considered possible. audax has showcased the potential of BaaS and how it has scaled the digital business for Standard Chartered, enabling them to acquire new-to-bank customers at a fraction of traditional customer acquisition costs. We are now ready to scale it for other banks and financial institutions globally, helping everyone create better value for their business without risking their existing estate."

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