Asian Banker identifies First bank most strong in Nigeria

The Asian Banker has identified First Bank of Nigeria limited as the most strong bank in Nigeria for its commitment to maintaining high standards in retail banking.

“We have a very strong profile of First Bank in Nigeria”, Emmanuel Daniel, chairman said this in Lagos, adding that of all the banks in Nigeria under the survey of the International Retail Banking Working Group, First Bank come strongly in Nigeria.

Daniel who spoke at the 22nd annual West Africa International Retail Banking held in Lagos said “We think that as competition increases in Nigeria, there would be greater mergers and acquisitions among players. In other words, there would be fewer large players over a period of time.”

He said Nigeria has to benchmark itself with other emerging markets of similar size and similar per capita GDP levels.

According to him, a new entrant into retail banking would find the business very expensive because of competition and investments they have to make, while an existing bank with a strong customer loyalty would find acquiring customers much cheaper than a new entrant.

In his keynote address, Bisi Onasanya, GMD/CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, said structural economic reforms across most economies on the continent, especially those ones which gave a freer rein to private sector operators have resulted in output growth rates across Africa that have been the envy of most other continents.

Represented by Tunde Owolabi, Group Head, Retail Banking, Lagos Island, FirstBank, Onasanya noted that financial services providers continent-wide have attacked the problem of distance, taking banking services to isolated communities, and the mass market financial services needs of their domestic markets through information and communications technology solutions.

“Beyond the mobile phone as means of payment and collection, though, we are beginning to witness a portfolio of digital banking services ranging from payment applications on mobile phones and personal computers through the debit and credit cards to the time-tested ATMs. This is where it all gets interesting in my view”.

However, he said the main retail banking challenge, which service providers face across the continent, is one of building strong relationships across all customer segments and along each customer’s value chain.

“To this challenge, the following questions present themselves. Do we have enough traction, in terms of our infrastructure endowments to drive these process alterations? Are there cultural processes or values that may assist or hinder use of personal data to drive new levels of customer engagement? Are local governance arrangements for data use as strong on customer privacy on the continent as they are elsewhere? What do operators have to do to strengthen the process for collecting, storing, and retrieving data in ways that re-assure our markets to part with these?

“There is no doubt that the continental retail banking space is big and getting bigger. There is no doubt that we would need to find more creative ways to tease value out of this space, especially in the light of strong and growing competition, including from non-bank actors”, he said.

 

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE