Huawei and Standard Bank sign strategic deal to accelerate intelligent finance

At the recent 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Huawei and Standard Bank South Africa (SBSA) signed a strategic cooperation agreement to accelerate digital transformation of the financial sector and enhance South Africa’s ability to continue growing its digital industries.

Jason Cao, CEO of the Huawei Digital Finance business unit, spoke about the established relationship between Huawei and SBSA, Africa’s leading bank, in several countries.

“We are signing an agreement for the future because we share a common goal of achieving excellence,” Cao said. “Huawei’s cutting-edge technologies and global digital transformation experience will help SBSA accelerate financial infrastructure upgrades and digital transformation. This will set the bar for digital transformation on the African continent.”

We are signing an agreement for the future because we share a common goal of achieving excellence

Gene Zhang, CEO of the Huawei South Africa Enterprise Business, said: “Huawei has served over 3 700 global financial services clients. We are driving Africa’s growth and doing our best to support to South Africa’s digital transformation via the technology cooperation with Standard Bank.”

Speaking at this same event, Will Meng, CEO of Huawei South Africa, said: “The synergies between our organisations will pave the way for innovative solutions and sustainable growth. By integrating Huawei’s cutting-edge technology with Standard Bank’s robust financial services, we are poised to offer seamless and secure digital banking experiences to tens of millions of customers. This partnership is not just about increasing sales but creating flourishing digital industries across Africa.”

Group CIO of Standard Bank PPB Khomotso Molabe said: “We are here today to celebrate and cement a very important strategic cooperation between Standard Bank Group and Huawei.” He likened it to a marriage.

Molabe said the agreement will succeed because it is based on values of “mutual benefit, open communication, support for each other’s interests and, most importantly, long-term planning. We are already using Huawei’s award-winning storage technology in South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi and Zambia,” he added.

Partnerships that create a better society

Group CEO of Standard Bank PPB Funeka Montjane said in a speech at the conference that the memorandum of understanding was the “beginning of the journey of excellence and growing our business together, but the kind of business that makes people’s lives better”.

Montjane said partnering with Huawei will not only help their systems meet customer demands, but it will also benefit society. For example, the collaboration can enhance Standard Bank’s digital crowdfunding platform that connects students from rural areas “who would have not had an opportunity to study without access to that funding”. She concluded that it is a significant partnership because “technology connects people”.

Huawei leverages leading innovative technologies and draws on its extensive expertise to help customers succeed through open collaboration with financial institutions and ecosystem partners, always looking for new ways to create value for its customers.

By the end of August, Huawei had served more than 3 700 financial customers in more than 80 countries and regions, including 53 of the world’s top 100 banks. Huawei had also established strategic partnerships with more than 80 large banks, insurers and securities companies across the globe, becoming their trusted partner in digital transformation.

About Huawei
Huawei is a leading global provider of ICT infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains – telecommunications networks, IT, smart devices and cloud services – the company is committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world.

Huawei’s end-to-end portfolio of products, solutions and services are both competitive and secure. Through open collaboration with ecosystem partners, we create lasting value for our customers, working to empower people, enrich home life, and inspire innovation in organisations of all shapes and sizes.

At Huawei, innovation focuses on customer needs. We invest heavily in basic research, concentrating on technological breakthroughs that drive the world forward. As of 31 December 2023, Huawei had 207 000 employees, more than 114 000 of which were R&D employees (55%).

In 2023, its total R&D spending reached C¥164.7-billion, representing 23.4% of its total revenue. The company operates in more than 170 countries and regions, serving more than three billion people worldwide. In 2023, through the efforts of all employees, the company achieved an estimated annual sales revenue of C¥704.2-billion, aligned with forecasts. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.

For more information, please visit Huawei online at www.huawei.com or connect on LinkedIn, X, Facebook or YouTube.