From Idea to Market: The ChatWallet Design Story
From Idea to Market: The ChatWallet Design Story

Sivan Lapidus
"Once upon a time, the Absa design office was a mere five people sitting around a table designing and building a mobile banking app. Today, we are 163 people strong with skills spanning UX and UI design, service design, content writing, strategy and engineering. We build sticky products that our customers love and we deliver real business impact while doing so. We are a level five maturity design team in an organisation that embraces design and all it delivers for the business and its customers. And, there is no greater proof of this than the story of Absa's most innovative new digital product, ChatWallet. ChatWallet began as a 2am big, hairy, audacious idea to solve for financial inclusion in Africa. But, on what planet could we integrate our core banking systems with WhatsApp and deliver full financial services to customers without them ever having to touch a core banking channel?! Planet Absa, I will tell you. We were naive, but that naivety gave us the courage needed to pursue this wild idea unhindered. A truly design-led idea and innovation, ChatWallet went from a very rapid prototype to a fully mobilised product with monetary and executive investment. Today, ChatWallet is Absa's answer to the question of financial inclusion and in just four short months since market launch, ChatWallet has resulted in a digital sales uplift of 144%. ChatWallet empowers Africans. Customers can get a mobile wallet to safely store their hard-earned money and with no monthly fees, in under one minute and then bank anytime, all on the app they already use and love every day, WhatsApp. The story of how we got here is one of courage and perseverance, and I would love to tell it at UXSA. "
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