and #2 across Middle East and Africa
Standard Bank Group is leading in AI maturity in South Africa and ranked second overall in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) according to the inaugural Evident AI Index for Banks. The ranking reinforces Standard Bank’s pioneering position in embracing AI, with the Group also ranking first in the Index’s Innovation Pillar across MEA.
“AI is not optional, it touches every part of our business”
Margaret Nienaber, Chief Operating Officer of Standard Bank Group, says: “Our ambition is clear: to become Africa’s pioneering AI financial services organisation. This recognition from Evident confirms that we are making meaningful progress on that journey. AI is not optional; it will fundamentally change how clients interact with us, how work gets done, and how value is created. We are elevating AI from a short-term productivity lever to a long-term competitive capability across all four of our business units. We are embedding AI across the Standard Bank Group to improve client experiences, enable our people and create market-leading sustainable value.”
Standard Bank Group’s pioneering approach is underpinned by creating a culture of adoption and shifting from the light-touch use of AI tools to AI-enabled work. More than 20,000 of our colleagues are already active AI users, and we continue to invest in the skills, capabilities and culture required to help our people win in an AI-enabled future.
Our AI activities are underpinned by a powerful technology platform built on scaled cloud infrastructure and governed through a responsible AI framework. While we are excited about AI’s potential, we recognise the risks it presents. We continue to invest in the governance, guardrails, security, controls and human oversight required to ensure AI is deployed safely, responsibly and in line with our values.
AI development is governed at the most senior level: it is a CEO-owned agenda, supported by a dedicated Chief AI Officer and cross-functional specialists embedded across the Group’s business units.
An ‘and’ strategy, not an ‘or’ strategy
Jörg Fischer, Standard Bank Group Chief Information Officer and newly appointed Chief AI Officer, says the Group’s choices is built for optionality.
“Our AI strategy is not an ‘or’ strategy, it is an ‘and’ strategy,” says Fischer. “Partnering with leading global hyperscalers and adopting an open architecture across best-in-class both open and closed AI models allows us to retain the flexibility to access innovation from both the East and the West. This optionality allows us to move faster and adapt as the technology evolves.”
The Evident AI Index is widely regarded as one of the leading independent benchmarks of AI maturity in banking globally. Having established itself across major banking markets in North America and Europe, the Index this year expanded to include 25 banks across the Middle East and Africa. The survey assesses banks across four dimensions: talent, innovation, leadership and transparency.
