Jhpiego pays beneficiaries in Kenya through Standard Chartered’s Straight2Bank Wallet

Jhpiego, an international health non-profit affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, announced today that it is using Straight2Bank Wallet, Standard Chartered’s Mobile Wallet service, to instantly disburse funds to its beneficiaries in Kenya.

In addition to greater security and increased speed of remittance, the adoption of Straight2Bank Wallet has enabled Jhpiego to reach beneficiaries including those who were previously deprived of access to basic financial services due to infrastructure and economic challenges.

Ronald Geary, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Jhpiego, commented: “The use of Mobile Wallet services such as Straight2Bank Wallet underscores our commitment to reaching out to Jhpiego beneficiaries in as safe and efficient a fashion as possible. The rapid delivery of resources to our vendors and beneficiaries enables us to rapidly respond to the changing needs of women and families worldwide.”

First introduced in Kenya in 2013, Straight2Bank Wallet is a Mobile Wallet service that enables corporations, governments and development organisations to make cashless payments to both banked and unbanked individuals.

Standard Chartered has since expanded the platform’s coverage to corporate clients in other markets in Africa and Asia. The Bank recently collaborated with Airtel Money in Zambia, Tigo and Vodacom in Tanzania, and bKash in Bangladesh to launch the service in these markets.

“Conversations around the use of Mobile Wallet services in emerging markets continue to grow as companies, NGOs and development organisations increasingly see the value in using technology to electronically disburse and collect cash,” said Dan Scanlan, Regional Transaction Banking Head for the Americas, Standard Chartered.

“Technology has made it easier to process transactions and drive financial inclusion while making a difference in the communities that we operate in.”

Gautam Jain, Global Head of Client Access, Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered, added: “We are committed to improving access to banking services in developing countries and are delighted to announce the expansion of our award-winning Straight2Bank Wallet platform to Zambia, Tanzania and Bangladesh. We look forward to bringing greater efficiencies to clients such as Jhpiego through the continued rollout of this platform across our footprint markets.”

Straight2Bank Wallet has been changing the ways payments are facilitated in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines, and Standard Chartered plans to roll out the platform to additional markets in 2015.

For further information please contact:

Natalie Long
External Communications, Business
Standard Chartered Bank
+65 6596 5388
natalie.long@sc.com