Rawbank Partners with SBS to Accelerate Digital Banking Transformation in DRC

Rawbank, a prominent financial institution in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is integrating the SBS Digital Banking Suite to accelerate its digital transformation. For fintech professionals, this move highlights the growing demand for modular, cloud-ready layers atop legacy core systems to meet the rapid shift toward mobile-first banking in emerging African markets.

What was announced

Rawbank is expanding its relationship with SBS by adding the Digital Banking Suite to its existing infrastructure. The bank currently utilizes SBS Core Amplitude, a modular core banking solution. This new strategic layer is designed to streamline end-to-end digital journeys, specifically targeting improvements in mobile and web application performance. Key features of the implementation include digital onboarding to reduce waiting times for account opening, as well as enhanced tools for card and payment management.

The rollout is aimed at a broad spectrum of the DRC’s economy, including individual consumers, entrepreneurs, and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). By decoupling the digital engagement layer from the core foundation, Rawbank intends to launch new features more frequently. This project is positioned as a modernization effort to anticipate changing usage patterns in Central Africa, focusing on providing greater autonomy for customers to manage accounts remotely without the friction typically associated with traditional branch-based banking. The adoption of this technology is intended to concretely improve access to modern payment solutions and provide a richer mobile banking experience for users across the country.

"Technological innovation is a key lever of our development strategy. With the SBS Digital Banking Suite, we are strengthening our ability to offer our customers ever simpler, more accessible and higher-performing services. This platform will allow us to speed up the launch of new features, deliver an enriched digital experience, and pursue our ambition of making financial services accessible to as many people as possible in the Democratic Republic of Congo,"

Arvind Kumar, CIO at Rawbank.

The companies involved

SBS, the provider of the Digital Banking Suite and Core Amplitude, is a subsidiary of Axway. The company has established a significant footprint in the financial technology sector, providing modular and secure core banking solutions that allow institutions to manage operations on unified, scalable foundations. SBS focuses on bridging the gap between high-performing core systems and modern digital engagement layers, particularly in markets where digital transformation is a primary driver of financial inclusion. Rawbank is a leading commercial bank operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has positioned itself as a major player in the DRC's financial sector, focusing on innovation and the modernization of its digital ecosystem. The bank serves a diverse client base ranging from retail customers to corporate entities and SMEs. By leveraging its existing relationship with SBS, Rawbank is seeking to consolidate its position as a benchmark for digital banking in the Central African region, utilizing world-class technological capabilities to address local market needs.

What FF News has reported before

While this marks a significant step for Rawbank’s internal infrastructure, the broader Congolese fintech landscape has seen increasing activity from global players. FF News previously reported on the region's digital shift when Mastercard partners with illicocash to launch virtual cards in Democratic Republic of the Congo. That partnership focused on expanding digital payment access through virtual cards, signaling a trend toward mobile-centric financial products in the DRC. The integration of SBS’s digital suite by Rawbank aligns with this wider market movement toward reducing barriers to entry for digital financial services in the region.

What this means

This announcement underscores a critical trend in emerging markets: the "digital-first" layer is no longer a luxury but a competitive necessity. By layering SBS’s suite over its existing core, Rawbank is effectively bypassing the limitations of traditional core banking to compete with agile neobanks and mobile money operators. The pressure is now on other regional incumbents to prove they can match this speed of delivery. This move also raises questions about the pace of regulatory adaptation in the DRC; as onboarding becomes instantaneous, the industry must ensure that KYC and AML frameworks can keep up with the volume of a newly digitized population.