The event was attended by dignitaries, business leaders and senior management, including Bruno Nabagné Kone, minister of information technologies and communication in Ivory Coast.

Also in attendance was former Ivory Coast and Chelsea footballer Didier Drogba (pictured above, second right), who is the bank's digital ambassador.

The ex-footballer shared his experience of opening an account using his mobile phone.

Sunil Kaushal, regional CEO for Africa and the Middle East at Standard Chartered, said it was pleased to launch its first digital bank in Africa with the support of the Ivorian government.

“This is a key milestone on our digital journey as a bank and underlines our commitment to investing and growing in the market.

“We have been steadily investing in expanding our footprint in Africa over the years, and this will continue to be a priority moving forward.

“Digitising Africa remains at the heart of our business strategy for the region, and we look to implement our Ivory Coast model across other markets in the coming months.”

Jaydeep Gupta, regional head of retail banking for Africa and Middle East at Standard Chartered, added that the new digital bank had taken feedback from its clients and incorporated technology to allow them to execute all banking activities from a mobile device.

“This includes 70 banking services through the app.

“In addition, for the first time, the client onboarding journey has been digitised and in under 15 minutes a client can open a new account through the app.

“What has also been introduced is the ability for clients to track and trace a request submitted, which is a first for Standard Chartered.”

Isaac Foly, Standard Chartered's Ivory Coast CEO, said it was proud of the progress the country had made over the past decade and emphasised the role digital transformation had had on economic development.

“Our partnership with Didier Drogba has helped raise awareness, not only for our digital offering, but for enhancing financial literacy and improving accessibility to financial services across Ivory Coast.

“Promoting the social and economic wellbeing of communities is a key component of our strategy to support sustainable development and our digital bank is certainly another step in the right direction.”