Standard Bank and IBM sign ground-breaking deal to bring world-beating Watson technology into banking Development is a ‘first’ for banking on the African continent. Vuyo Mpako Standard Bank will become the first financial institution on the African continent to implement IBM’s new Watson technology which breaks traditional barriers in computing by embracing artificial intelligence, natural language processing and dynamic learning when assisting customers & businesses with the interpretation of data. The trend-setting agreement, which will see Standard Bank South Africa partnering with IBM in assessing the product, was signed in Johannesburg today, says Vuyo Mpako, Head of Innovation & Channel Design at Standard Bank. “Although the IBM Watson programme has been used for other applications, notably in the healthcare arena, it will be the first time in the Middle East and Africa that this technology will be used by a bank to interpret and maximise use of our data. Th...