Standard Bank’s LookSee platform gets international sustainability award
Standard Bank’s LookSee platform has received global recognition in the 2023 Qorus-Accenture Banking Innovation Awards for its efforts in bringing affordable and sustainable energy to homes through flexible financing options.
The platform, which was the only African institution to make it to the top 9, secured silver in the Social, Sustainable and Responsible banking category.
The awards honour the best ideas and practices transforming the industry for the benefit of banks and their customers.
This year attracted more than 450 entries from 182 institutions in 61 countries, with applicants ranging from agile start-ups to the world’s largest financial institutions.
Winners were selected across seven categories through a peer-based voting process combined with a panel of judges from leading global financial firms.
Marc du Plessis, Standard Bank’s Head of LookSee, said social, sustainable, and responsible banking is essential in the African context.
“In South Africa we are facing several challenges, but our energy crisis stands out for the broad impact on all sectors of society. This is why LookSee by Standard Bank group, are so focused on enabling the affordable rollout of solar power.”
Du Plessis added: “With our sunny conditions, solar is a perfect choice to reduce the strain on the power grid and help to increase the usage of renewable energy sources.”
“And for households, a solar installation doesn’t just offer power security and lower electricity costs, it also provides the opportunity to make changes that will benefit generations to come.”
LookSee offers a variety of financing options for households considering home solar installations:
- Solar loan: First to market with an offering based on government’s Energy Bounce Back Loan Guarantee Scheme, LookSee’s Solar Loan is a game changer for households who can’t or don’t want to leverage the equity in their home loans. The loan offers personalised interest rates capped at prime plus 2.5%; values between R3 000 and R300 000; and flexible repayment terms up to 5 years with no penalties for early settlement.
- Additional registration amount: Customers who apply for a new Standard Bank home loan will automatically be assessed to see if they qualify for an additional 20% registration amount to be used for acceptable home improvements such as solar power installations. This additional amount does not attract registration costs and successful customers also receive a 25% discount on the registration costs of the original loan amount.
- Access Bond: An access bond links a customer’s transactional or savings account with their Standard Bank home loan and allows them to pay extra money into their account for use at a later stage or to reduce their home loan repayments. If customers have enough available funds in their access bond, then financing a solar installation is as easy as doing an electronic transfer to their solar provider once the installation has been completed.
- Re-advance Loan: If customers have a regular home loan they can apply for a re-advance loan. This option enables homeowners to apply for access to the capital payments that have already been taken off the bond. There are no additional registration costs and interest rates remain the same.
- Further Loan: Customers can also have their home loan amount increased. This will, however, depend on whether there is sufficient equity on the property to cover an increased amount. With this option, there will be registration costs and interest rates depend on the customer’s credit profile.
- Personal loan: For customers who don’t wish to use their home loan facility, a personal loan offers a short-term financing option for a solar power investment. With personalised interest rates and flexible repayment terms, this is a good option for households wishing to pay off their renewable energy installation within a period of 5 years.
To date, LookSee has installed over 6,000 solar panels on homes which are generating on average 6,000 megawatt-hours in power, annually, that would otherwise be drawn from the grid.
Notably, this means that approximately 6,900 tons of carbon emissions have been offset, an amount that is equal to the planting of 80,000 pine trees.
Said du Plessis: “We are proud to be nominated for this prestigious award as this recognition shows us that we are on the right track. We are committed to continuing our efforts towards sustainable financing solutions.”
“Our focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives is a testament to our commitment towards creating a better future for all.”
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