Kenya’s Standard Chartered Bank has introduced a first 24-hour remote cheque printing service allowing corporate clients to print them along with signatures from their offices through its corporate internet banking platform, Straight2Bank.
The bank said the new service allows access for payments in out-of-town locations and remote areas across the country.
It will also reduce the time spent on delivery to the beneficiaries, with clients now able to control the disbursement process centrally at the head office via Straight2Bank.
Apurva Jain, Standard Chartered’s head of transaction banking for East Africa, said while the bank supports the drive towards digitisation of payments, it understands that cheques remain an important form of payment to clients.
With many Kenyan franchises embracing the move to a 24-hour economy, the new move by the bank is seen as a step in that direction, especially to counter rivals which had begun “after hour banking” amid growing demands of corporate clients.
“Now clients can continue making cheque disbursements after banking hours,” Jain said.
The bank has partnered with Nakumatt Holdings for the rollout, with the service being an effective solution for enterprises and firms that generate high volumes of cheques, especially those that are signed physically, to then be released at multiple locations due to its capabilities of uploading and authorising client’s account payable data electronically.
“The physical movement of cheques between the bank and the company is time consuming and becoming increasingly costly,” added Jain.
“We are delighted to be the first transaction bank to address this challenge through our onsite cheque printing solution. Nakumatt Holdings Ltd is the first business we have partnered with to introduce this innovation in Kenya, given their high number of cheque issuances.”
The service is expected to cut down on time spent by senior management signing cheques by around 60 hours.
