Nigeria’s two systemic important banks, Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB), and Zenith Bank Plc are leading the top four best banking applications, a customer survey conducted by BusinessDay, indicated.
The survey, which required customers to mention the three best banking apps they use currently, showed GTBank scoring 19 percent while Zenith Bank notched 18 percent out of 19 banks mentioned by customers.
This was followed by First Bank of Nigeria with a 13 percent score and Access Bank Plc, which had a 12 percent score.
Read also: How mobile banking apps are changing consumer behaviour
Other banking Apps mentioned in the survey include UBA and Stanbic IBTC which scored 8 percent each, FCMB (4%), Standard Chartered Bank and Union Bank (3%) each, and five banks had 2 percent score each. They include Fidelity Bank, Globus Bank, Jaiz Bank, Keystone and Wema Bank.
Also, the survey showed five banking Apps scoring 1 percent each. These include Carbon, Citibank, Ecobank, Kuda and Polaris bank.
In the survey, 81 percent of the respondents were male while 19 percent were female. Eighty-two percent of the respondents use banking apps currently, 14 percent do not, while 4 percent had used it before.
Fifty-two percent live in Lagos, followed by Abuja (11%), Delta State (5%), Kano (4%), Kwara and Rivers (3%) each.
Also, 2 percent of the respondents came from eight different States. These include Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Kaduna, Ogun, Osun and Oyo.
Furthermore, the survey showed that 1 percent of the respondents came from seven States, which include Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Gombe, Imo, Kogi, and Nasarawa State.
GTBank has two mobile banking apps, which are GTWorld App, and GTBank Mobile App. Google Play review of GTBank Mobile App shows a 3.7-star rating with a total of 27,611 users.
Zenith Bank was rated 3.6 stars with a total of 30,119 users by Google Play. “Zenith Bank’s mobile banking app gives access to your accounts 24 hours a day from wherever you are. It helps you transfer funds, pay bills and experience the freedom of banking on your terms,” the bank stated on its website.
Features of the banking App include 24/7 Live Chat with its contact centre ZenithDirect, Log POS, Web or ATM dispense errors, generate, share and save transaction receipts, view bill payments history, view transfer of beneficiaries’ personal details, view transaction mini-statement and enables customers to view all their accounts on their phone: current, savings, domiciliary, fixed deposit etc.
Other features are, App is locked to device preventing unauthorized use, validates Nigerian Uniform Bank Account Number (NUBAN), account numbers for error-free transfers, protected by two-factor authentication: Password and mobile PIN, pay bills directly from customer’s bank account.
The revamped GTBank Mobile App, lets customers carry their bank with them wherever they go. The App allows them to perform transactions and manage their bank account(s) from their mobile device. It is secure and very simple to use.
The GTBank Mobile App allows customers: view the balances on their bank account(s), manage their account and preview their transaction history.
It initiates transfers to its own account(s), GTBank accounts and also to other bank accounts, purchase Airtime and Data bundles for all networks, pay bills, hotlist cards and manage their debit/credit card, request for account statements, change your email address, phone number and other details.
The App confirms and manages your cheques, receives In-App messages on new features, quick tips and promotional offers, among others.
“In addition, you can switch to Mobile Money (mwallet) from the same app. GTBank Mobile Money offers you another simple way to make payments and transfer money to family and friends from your mobile device. Your phone number is your account number (Wallet ID) and you don’t even need to be an account holder of GTBank to register for GTBank Mobile Money,” the bank said.
BusinessDay spoke with some customers via phone calls and WhatsApp chats. “I use GTbank and Stanbic IBTC. They are both user friendly and eliminate me going to the bank completely. I can resolve most complaints on the App without any physical contact with the bank,” a human resource specialist based in Lagos said.
Adetoun Tade, president of the IVLP Alumni Association Nigeria, said, “I use both GTB and Sterling bank apps. The GTB is cool but Sterling is so much trouble. The sterling hardly goes through and when it does, it asks if you want to save the beneficiary account number but even if you press yes, it will still ask you the next time you transact to that account. Sometimes it will tell you the transaction failed but it will give an alert. Sterling is stressful to use.”
On his part, Reverend Izuchukwu Chukwudebelu, District Superintendent of Assemblies of God, Apapa, said, “I use Access Bank App and the experience is beautiful. No dislike yet.”
Temple Coker, a reverend minister in Assemblies of God Nigeria, said, First Bank App does not work effectively in a densely populated area. Sometimes when somebody transfers money to me, I will not get an alert until I confirm from the bank. When I travelled to Enugu State, I was stranded at some point. I tried to carry out some transactions using my mobile app but it was not successful. I am trying to change to another bank app since my FirstBank app is not giving me what I want.
“I have tried to send money from my FirstBank app to UBA but it did not go through but when I tried to send through Kuda bank, it was seamless. Kuda bank, which my son is using, seems to be the best, he said.
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