Standard Bank Ghana’s corporate and investment banking division, DigiTrade, has emerged as the overall winner of the recent employee hackathon. The hackathon, part of Standard Bank’s annual Kuunda Disrupt event, showcased innovative solutions aimed at enhancing client experience and improving internal processes. DigiTrade’s winning solution leveraged Artificial Intelligence (AI) to review and verify international trade documents, a significant improvement over the traditional manual submission process.
The use of AI by DigiTrade addresses inefficiencies associated with manual document verification, providing a faster and more reliable alternative. This advancement highlights the bank’s commitment to utilizing technology to streamline operations and enhance service delivery across its markets. The proposed solution is set to be sponsored by Standard Bank’s business chief information officers, with development through its partnership with Flame Station.
Standard Bank hosted its 10th Kuunda Disrupt Hackathon as a two-day event, receiving a remarkable 395 proposals from 20 countries across the group’s African footprint. Out of these submissions, 45 teams, comprising over 230 participants, competed in a Dragon’s Den session to determine the top 15 finalists. From the final set of 15, five teams were selected, each representing one of the bank’s business units.
The winning teams developed diverse solutions, ranging from improving insurance claims processing and offsetting carbon emissions through trade, to AI-powered personalized purchasing and automating manual tasks with real-time analytics. DigiTrade stood out as the overall winner, representing the CIB unit, while other top teams hailed from BCB, IAM, PPB, and Corporate Functions.
The event underscored Standard Bank’s commitment to fostering innovation within its workforce, providing a platform for employees to develop ideas that will shape the future of banking services. The successful teams will see their ideas supported and developed, ensuring that innovation continues to drive the bank’s services and client offerings.
Jörg Fischer, Standard Bank’s group chief information officer, praised the high level of creativity and problem-solving exhibited during the event. “We are immensely proud of the calibre of ideation and solutioning that we saw over the two-day Hackathon. It speaks volumes for the innovative nature of our people across the Group and augurs well for our future,” he noted.
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