Standard Chartered
“Can Standard Chartered become the embedded banking infrastructure layer of choice for digital ecosystems across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East by leveraging its unique multi-market banking licenses and BaaS platform (nexus)?”
Standard Chartered is a 150+ year-old international bank focused on Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Over the past five years the bank has repositioned from a traditional correspondent-banking model toward an embedded finance infrastructure play: launching nexus (its BaaS platform), integrating Wise Platform for cross-border payments, and building Open Banking Marketplace APIs for corporate clients. The bank is increasingly acting as a BaaS provider and infrastructure layer for fintechs and digital ecosystems rather than solely a balance-sheet lender, culminating in crypto-infrastructure partnerships like DeCard in 2025.