Motive Labs Forms Strategic Partnership With Standard Bank to Innovate and Invest in New Financial Technology Opportunities

JOHANNESBURG and LONDON, April 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Motive Partners today announced that it has agreed a partnership with sub-Saharan focused Standard Bank, to augment and extend Standard Bank's innovation agenda and to generate long-term growth and value creation.

Motive Partners announced the launch of Motive Labs with founding strategic partners Allied Irish Bank, Bradesco, Emirates NBD, Mastercard & Royal Bank of Scotland. These global banking and payments leaders joined Motive Labs' Membership to identify new innovation and investment opportunities; to solve common areas of challenge; to collaborate with market leading start-ups; and to gain access to a network of experts, helping them innovate and grow amid continual disruption across the financial sector. Today, Standard Bank joins the Membership alliance alongside the existing partners, sharing best practice and working together to innovate time and cost efficiently.

Standard Bank has offices in 20 countries in Africa and is the largest bank on the continent. Combine the continent's soaring population with technology, improvements in infrastructure, health and education, and Africa is well positioned to be the next century's economic growth powerhouse, with one in five people globally living in Africa by 2030.   

UK Trade Policy Minister George Hollingbery commented, "Following the Prime Minister's trade mission to Africa last summer, it is hugely positive to see new ambitious deals such as that announced today between Motive Partners and Standard Bank. The UK already has substantial trade and investment ties across Africa, with trade between the UK and the continent worth more than £30 billion last year alone, but there is even more potential for other UK businesses to make the most of the rapidly growing opportunities in Africa. Today's deal will also help strengthen our trading relationship with Africa and will go further to fulfil the Prime Minister's promise to be the largest G7 investor in Africa by 2022.

Congratulations to both Motive Labs and Standard Bank on their new partnership, I look forward to seeing the results of this new innovative international relationship in the future."

Motive Labs' innovation model works with its partners to leverage the best of leading institutions in financial services and new entrant technology firms to create new ways to serve customers, operate with efficiency and scale, adhere to an ever-changing regulatory environment and evolve their own models and business lines. Quickly identifying areas of challenge and opportunity will allow both organisations to focus on value-add areas of the business, partnering with and building new technologies to capitalize on those prospects.

Larry McCarthy, Executive, Strategic Investments and Alliances, Standard Bank, commented, "Standard Bank welcomes the opportunity to join the Motive Labs syndicate in partnering and collaborating with leading financial institutions in order to contribute to our core and competitive disruptiveness in furthering our Africa journey."

Alberto Corvo, CEO of Motive Labs, commented, "I am delighted to welcome Standard Bank in to our ecosystem. It is an honour to partner with the continent's leading financial institution and our team are extremely excited to begin working together on a number of identified opportunities. We could not have asked for a better partner in Africa.

With over 30 countries now represented by partners in our ecosystem, we are intensely focused on delivery of new technologies. Our most recent innovation milestone will be announced soon and is something we and our partners are very proud of."

About Standard Bank

Standard Bank Group is the largest African banking group by assets, with a market capitalization of approximately R320 billion (USD22 billion), offering a range of banking and related financial services across sub-Saharan Africa.

Standard Bank's strategy is to be an African focused, client-centred, digitally enabled universal financial services organisation, which drives Africa's growth and creates value for all stakeholders.

Standard Bank's connection with global financial centres enables Standard Bank to facilitate investment and development flows in Africa and access international capital to support growth and diversification on the continent. Standard Bank also have a strategic partnership with the largest bank in the world, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), who is a 20% shareholder in the group.

About Motive Partners

Motive Partners is a sector specialist investment firm that is focused on technology enabled companies that power the financial services industry. Based in New York and London and comprised of investors, operators and innovators, Motive Partners brings differentiated expertise, connectivity and capabilities to create long-term value in financial technology companies.

Motive Labs is the innovation catalyst and value creation service with a goal of supporting partners in the area of Financial Technology. Motive Labs accelerates technology innovation & rapid value creation for institutions through collaboration, access to a network of proven technology experts and pairing with the most promising and successful growth firms.

More information on Motive Partners can be found at www.motivepartners.com   

SOURCE Motive Partners