At The Digital Banker’s Global Retail Banking Innovation Awards 2026 in Singapore, Standard Bank won four top accolades, cementing its status as an industry leader in hyper-personalisation.
“Our clients remain at the centre of every solution we build. Smart Pulse, our real-time hyper-personalisation capability, enables us to sense, learn, decide and act in moments that matter, creating more relevant and timely experiences that deliver greater value for our clients,” says Funeka Montjane, CEO of personal and private banking at Standard Bank Group.
“Winning on the international stage demonstrates that solutions built around the needs of South African clients can stand alongside the best in the world, while delivering real impact where it matters most: in our clients’ everyday lives.”
The awards were presented at a gala at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre in Singapore on 22 October 2026. Standard Bank was recognised in four categories: Excellence in Digital Innovation – South Africa; Outstanding Innovation in Digital Banking – South Africa; Best Digital Banking Initiative – South Africa; and Best Marketing Personalisation Across Channels.
A demanding international benchmark
Now in their ninth year, the Global Retail Banking Innovation Awards recognise retail banks around the world. Entries are assessed by a judging panel that includes senior advisers from Accenture, Bain & Company, Deloitte, Kearney, KPMG and Simon-Kucher.
A client-centric approach
Among the initiatives recognised was Smart Pulse, Standard Bank’s real-time hyper-personalisation capability. Developed in response to growing client expectations for immediate, relevant and contextual banking experiences, Smart Pulse combines streaming data, machine learning, intelligent decisioning and an event-driven architecture to identify and respond to client needs in the moments that matter. So far this year, Smart Pulse has powered hundreds of millions of intelligent, service-triggered engagements across more than 35 service and sales use cases. These engagements are driving take-up of relevant products and services, while proactively connecting clients to the services and solutions they need most.
Recognition from The Digital Banker
The awards add to a track record of recognition for Standard Bank from The Digital Banker. Previous accolades include:
- Best Payments Innovation, for the Standard Bank Visa Fleet Card, at the Middle East and Africa Retail Banking Innovation Awards 2023;
- Outstanding API Initiative for Customer Experience, for the Standard Bank API Marketplace, its platform for application programming interfaces, at the Digital CX Awards 2024;
- Best Trade Finance Platform Initiative – South Africa, in 2024;
- SME Banker of the Year, and Outstanding SME Payments Solution for SimplyBLU, at the Global SME Banking Innovation Awards 2025;
- a Digital CX Award for the best customer insights initiative in South Africa.
About The Standard Bank Group
The Standard Bank Group is the largest African bank by assets, operating in 21 African countries, four global financial centres and two offshore hubs. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, we are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with share code SBK, and the Namibian Stock Exchange, share code SNB. Standard Bank has a 163-year history in South Africa and started building a franchise outside southern Africa in the early 1990s. Our strategic position, which enables us to connect Africa to other select emerging markets as well as pools of capital in developed markets, and our balanced portfolio of businesses provide significant opportunities for growth.
As at 30 June 2026, Standard Bank Group had 19.5 million clients, employed more than 50 000 people (including Liberty) and had more than 1 200 points of representation and more than 5 600 ATMs across the African continent. The group’s largest shareholder is the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank, with a 19.7% shareholding. In addition, Standard Bank Group and ICBC share a strategic partnership that facilitates trade and deal flow between Africa, China and select emerging markets. For further information, go to www.standardbank.com.
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