Banking
Banking on the Future of Work
By Millie Clarke
The disruption of technology is revolutionising industries across many levels. As businesses evolve during the unprecedented revolution in the workplace, appropriate operating models must be put in place to meet the continuous demands of clients and the world around us. The future workforce must be equipped with the necessary tools to allow them to easily adapt to the ever-changing world that will require digital skills, organisational adaptability and a different kind of leadership at all levels.
The banking industry specifically, has faced significant disruption from changes in client expectations, geopolitical landscape shifts and development of artificial intelligence (AI). There is often anxiety linked to disruption, as it cannot always be predicted and organisations need to be ready to take advantage of new developments now for the future.
To remain competitive, organisations will need to retool their structures and their approaches to work to make use of the new technologies with full effect. Redesigned business structures and processes with a new focus on talent must be looked at as a priority.
Research suggests that through 2030, the time spent using advanced technological skills will increase by 50 percent in the United States and by 41 percent in Europe, with the fastest rise in the need for advanced IT and programming skills1.
Additionally, automation will accelerate the shift in career skills with an increasing demand for technological abilities, while other skills such as, basic cognitive and manual skills will be less in demand. Data scientists, agile developers, engineers and scrum maters will become important in the new world of work. Those who can work across functions and businesses will be more valuable.
At Standard Chartered, we believe to have a competitive advantage with a future fit workforce we need to embrace digitisation and incorporate advanced technologies into the workstream. We have taken proactive steps to help drive the growth of the business by embracing these changes early on and promote innovation across all parts of the Bank, in our drive to make banking simpler, faster and more convenient for our customers and to stay relevant in our markets. We are experimenting with disruptive business models that create optionality for the Bank, including investing in fintech’s and start-ups outside the Bank, and establishing new partnerships and solutions that have the potential to change how we approach and think about banking.
Most banks are looking at replacing their legacy systems to ensure the new technology will improve their operating effectiveness and improve the customer experience. We see a lot of improvements around account opening, mortgage payments, new hire processing – even IPOs are being done by algorithm! Automation will have an impact on the way we deliver and consequently our workforce and talent strategies.
Looking at what lays ahead, I foresee three challenges facing the role of Human Resources (HR) in developing a talent strategy for the future of work. The critical questions we need to ask ourselves are:
How do we identify the skills needed to compete in the new world?
How do we prepare for the technology disruption and re-train our existing staff to be ready?
How do we attract digital talent, knowing that we have to compete with other industries for this same talent pool?
We have invested heavily in our ‘People Strategy’ to ensure that we harness our unique individual strengths which build the organisation. Newly developed HR technologies and tools are used within Standard Chartered to create a consumer grade experience with HR through mobile friendly and online portals. The training of more than 1,200 senior executives took place, towards positively transforming the culture of the Bank, focusing on supporting our employees and enabling them to become more comfortable with innovation and the development of new ideas, even if these ideas were not successful. We are retraining our staff on agile to ensure we remain competitive in the new world of work. Through our on-line learning platform staff can choose a varied number of programmes and develop themselves at their own leisure.
The scale, scope and complexity of technology and its transformative powers is something organisations are still yet to fully comprehend, especially when it comes to the future of work and what the modern workplace will look like. However, it is important for banks to evolve as rapidly as technology – at least, they must try to. It is important for an organisation to be agile and continue developing to hold a competitive advantage and remain self-sustaining.
McKinsey Global Institute https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/skill-shift-automation-and-the-future-of-the-workforce
By Adedapo Adesanya
First Holdco Plc has commenced a public offer to raise about N1.4 trillion (approximately $1 billion) after securing approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The offer, which opened on Monday, involves the sale of 10.4 billion ordinary shares, according to the chief executive of its banking subsidiary, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mr Olusegun Alebiosu.
The capital raise follows the company’s earlier plan to transfer about a quarter of its shares to RC Investment Management Ltd., which served as a bridge holder after Barbican Capital Limited exited its investment in the lender amid a prolonged ownership and leadership dispute.
First Holdco had previously indicated that the shares would eventually be offered to the investing public once the necessary regulatory approvals were obtained.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Mr Alebiosu said proceeds from the offer would strengthen the capital base of First Bank and support the holding company’s expansion strategy.
According to him, the group intends to diversify beyond banking by establishing an insurance underwriting business and a fintech services company.
“The sale is starting today — the reality here is that I am not sure it will stay more than one week based on the pressure we are getting,” Mr Alebiosu said, expressing confidence in strong investor demand.
Investors appeared to respond positively to the announcement, with First HoldCo’s shares climbing as much as 5.9 per cent to a record high during trading on Monday before easing to a 3.1 per cent gain at N133.60 by early afternoon in Lagos.
The lender has been one of the best-performing banking stocks on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited over the past year, with its share price rising more than fourfold since July 2025, when Barbican Capital’s stake was transferred to RC Investment Management.
The fresh capital injection comes as its largest shareholder, Mr Femi Otedola, continues to strengthen his stake in Nigeria’s oldest bank. With the billionaire holding around a 26 per cent stake in the company, analysts say he has his eyes set on full control once his equity crosses the 30 per cent mark.
By Adedapo Adesanya
One of Nigeria’s top digital banks, PalmPay, has appointed a former executive of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Mr Samuel Oluyemi, as its chief operating officer.
In his new role, Mr Oluyemi will oversee the financial technology company’s operations in Nigeria, where it offers a broad range of digital financial services to individuals and businesses.
Mr Oluyemi will also engage with regulators to ensure the company’s expansion aligns with Nigeria’s financial, digital and social inclusion objectives.
Prior to joining the company, Mr Oluyemi spent more than two decades at NIBSS, where he served as business development lead.
During his tenure, he drove the development of several critical payment infrastructure projects, including the digital validation of Nigerian international passports, e-Dividend Mandate Management System (e-DMMS), and the Electronic Pensions Contribution Collection System (EPCCOS).
Also, he played a key role in the introduction and early adoption of the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) platform, Nigeria’s first real-time interbank transfer system launched in 2011, and later supported its extension to other financial institutions.
Mr Oluyemi obtained a master’s degree in Monetary Economics from the University of Ibadan and has participated in several local and international professional training programmes.
Commenting on the appointment, Managing Director of PalmPay Nigeria, Mr Chika Nwosu, said that the company was strengthening its leadership team to support its longterm vision.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Africa’s most valuable fintech, Flutterwave, has signalled that its long-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) remains firmly on the back burner as the company intensifies efforts to transform itself into a licensed financial institution across the continent.
The firm’s chief executive, Mr Olugbenga Agboola, said the firm is focused on building sustainable profitability, diversifying its revenue streams and expanding its banking footprint before considering a stock market listing.
Speaking to The Africa Report, Mr Agboola described an IPO as a future financing milestone rather than an immediate strategic objective.
“An IPO is a financing event, not a strategy,” he said. “We are not holding any pressure to go public. This gives us the flexibility to be patient and ensure when we do list, we’re doing so from a position of strength.”
The comments come as Flutterwave embarks on an acquisition-led expansion strategy aimed at securing banking licences and deeper regulatory access across Africa.
Mr Agboola revealed that the company is currently in the process of acquiring a bank in East Africa, though he declined to disclose the institution or country involved.
The planned acquisition is expected to provide Flutterwave with an established customer base, existing banking infrastructure and regulatory approvals, significantly shortening the time required to enter new financial services markets.
According to Mr Agboola, the company’s expansion priorities include Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa and Egypt, while the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia remain under consideration for future growth.
Rather than building banks from scratch in every market, Flutterwave intends to adopt a mix of acquisitions, licences and strategic partnerships depending on local regulatory conditions.
“The vision is not to form a bank in every country but to ensure that every African business has access to more than financial services,” Mr Agboola said in the interview.
The banking push follows recent regulatory and corporate developments, including the Central Bank of Nigeria’s approval of Flutterwave’s banking licence and the acquisition of open banking startup Mono.
Together, the moves underscore a broader strategy to expand beyond payments and establish new revenue streams in lending, liquidity management and business banking services.
Flutterwave plans to focus on institutional deposits from businesses already using its platform rather than competing aggressively for retail deposits.
The company intends to leverage transaction data from its payments network to provide short-term working capital, merchant financing, invoice discounting and trade finance products for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Mr Agboola disclosed that the bulk of the capital earmarked for banking operations will be directed toward credit support and liquidity buffers, with additional allocations for lending and banking infrastructure.
The strategy reflects a growing trend among African fintech firms seeking banking licences to reduce dependence on traditional financial institutions and gain greater control over settlement, liquidity management and product development.
Despite speculation about a near-term public listing, Mr Agboola maintained that Flutterwave’s immediate focus remains execution and growth.
He noted that the company will only consider an IPO after achieving stronger profitability and establishing scale across its payments, banking and remittance businesses.
In February 2025, he told Bloomberg that Flutterwave would only pursue a public offering after becoming profitable. He also stated in late 2024 that the company was “not in the IPO race.”
Founded in 2016, Flutterwave has processed more than one billion transactions valued at over $40 billion across 35 African countries. The company recently secured fresh funding that lifted its valuation to $3.3 billion, with American blockchain firm Ripple leading the investment round.
For now, however, Flutterwave appears more interested in building the foundations of a pan-African financial institution than rushing to the public markets, positioning banking expansion as the next phase of its growth story while keeping an eventual IPO firmly on the long-term horizon.
