Retail Workbench, initially launched in Korea in 2014, enables sales staff to open an account for a client in any location and makes banking services like loan approvals and credit card issuance completely paperless.

“Banking should be easy and convenient. That’s what the Retail Workbench is all about,” says Karen Fawcett, Standard Chartered’s CEO for retail banking. “As we build the digital retail bank of the future, we’re getting rid of paper and improving cost efficiency along the way.”

Retail Workbench is now going live in six markets: Malaysia, India, the UAE, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Kenya. By the end of 2017, the iPad sales tool will be in the hands of staff in 18 markets across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, says Fawcett.

The global roll-out follows Standard Chartered's announcement last year that it intends to axe 15000 jobs and invest $1.5 billion in a technology transformation initiative over the next three years. The bank has set itself a target of reaching 30% of sales and 40% of payments online by 2018.

In Korea, the introduction of the mobile platform cut account opening times to five minutes using the iPad's built-in camera to snap relevant identity documents and credit card issuance and slashed personal loan application and disbursement to less than half an hour.

"With a fully digital device, we can process client requests from anywhere, with the data moving straight through to the bank’s back-end operations in near real-time," says Fawcett. "Previously, sales staff could visit clients in person but the paperwork had to be manually entered into the bank’s systems back at the branch or bank’s premises."

Due to differences in local infrastructure, turnaround times and other features of Retail Workbench will vary across the six markets following the global launch, she adds.