Banks now turn to robots to drive the future of banking in Kenya

Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Chief Executive Lamin Manjang

If you cannot go to your bank to deposit money, the bank will now come to you, literally.

This will be made possible after Standard Chartered Bank of Kenya (StanChart) became the first local bank to unveil cash deposit machines that will now be leased to companies with huge cash inflows.

The machines will be mounted inside the finance departments of companies, technically making them have a mini version of their bank branch in their offices.

Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Chief Executive Lamin Manjang said at the machine’s launch in Nairobi Wednesday they can accept deposits in Kenya shillings and US dollars in real time, saving the clients the inconvenience of visiting the banking hall to deposit cash.

“The system enables clients to make cash deposits conveniently, thereby reducing the risks of cash losses. The machines can detect counterfeit currency notes,” said Mr Manjang.

Until now, most of the digital bank tellers were being mounted in banking halls or in secure shopping malls and are shared by various retail customers.

But the StanChart machine can be customised and leased to an individual client and installed on their premises. The customer can now deposit into the machine all the day’s transactions and leave the headache of transporting the cash to G4S Security Company.