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Cape Town - Apple has not yet officially released its Watch in South Africa, but already Standard Bank has announced that it is in the development phase of building a banking app to run on the device.
"With our smart watch app we are providing greater choice to customers about how they would like to stay in control of their finances," said Magnus Taljaard, head of digital Customer Solutions at Standard Bank.
The bank recently enabled banking biometrics on iPhones with Apple's Touch ID technology that allows customers to log in with their fingerprints.
Apple plans to launch the Watch in Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan on June 26, but Standard Bank is preparing to build its application to cater for the anticipated wearable.
A key feature of Standard Bank's Watch app is Balance Peek which ostensibly will give customers instant access to account balances.
iPhone-first development
Standard Bank is racing to be the first local bank with an application designed for the Apple Watch. (Rick Rycroft, AP)
"Balance Peek on smart watches is perfect for those moments when you need to quickly and unobtrusively check your balance," said Taljaard.
The Watch has received criticism that third party apps are slow in loading, making the concept of quickly checking your notifications on the device instead of your smartphone redundant.
The bank also said that the app will have a built-in kill switch so that you can de-link your account from the device should it get stolen.
While Standard Bank promised that it would roll out biometrics in its app for Android smartphones, the bank is clearly on an iPhone-first development path.
Taljaard said that once the Apple Watch app is ready, the bank would consider application development for Android-based watches, many of which are already officially available for sale in SA.
The mobile app for the Apple Watch will be available by the end of September 2015.
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