According to reports, Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart) is set to launch its mobile and online banking platform across eight African countries as it seeks to expand in Africa. StanChart will launch this service for its one million customers in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Botswana and Zimbabwe. This announcement comes at a time when several European banks are leaving Africa.

“Africa’s populations are moving quickly to embrace mobile banking and local banks have made material investments on the digital side, so to protect and grow our market share we are investing,”  Jaydeep Gupta, Standard Chartered Bank’s Regional Head for Retail Banking told Reuters.

Earlier this year, Barclay’s Group announced plans to exit Africa in order to refocus on its UK and US market. Barclay’s made this announcement after a review of the African business climate and decided that, in principle, it made strategic sense to leave the continent. After this announcement, the bank sold 12.2 percent of its stake in the bank which operates in about 12 African countries.

Africa has been affected by several economic issues such as the fall in global oil prices and the price of commodities due to China’s economic slowdown. Earlier in May, the International Monetary Fund cut its 2016 growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa from 4.3 percent to 3 percent. This growth forecast happens to be the lowest level in 15 years and half of the total average over the last decade.

Despite the economic situation in the continent, StanChart has continued to expand its presence in Africa by adding 10 branches in Nigeria’s financial hub, Lagos. According to the company’s data, the company is still optimistic about the continent as it made a net loss of only $32 million in 2015 in Africa due to rising bad loans.

“Africa is a multi-speed market with some countries such as Kenya bounding ahead while others like Zimbabwe and Nigeria remain challenging, but we see attractive long-term growth opportunities for the continent,” Gupta said.