Nigerian Banks leverage Technology to reach unbanked populace

Nigerian banks are using digital technology as a strategic tool in growing market share and capturing the large chunk of unbanked, enabling them to cushion the huge revenue losses resulting from the introduction of the Treasury Single Account and the implementation of zero commission on transactions (COT) policy.

Commercial banks have deployed more user-friendly apps, among other digital solutions to improve customer convenience.

Market watchers have hinted that by improving customer convenience and capitalising on the popularity of mobile apps and payments, the unbanked and under-banked would gradually join the banked minority and commercial banks will begin to leverage on the over 50 percent under-banked and unbanked Nigerians to ramp up revenue and achieve significant growth even amid harsh economic realities.

Diamond bank rolled out the Beta Savings account in 2013 and in 6 months, 38,600 accounts were opened.

According to EFInA (Ensuring Financial Inclusion and Access), 74 percent of BETA clients transacted more than once a month, saving an aggregate of $1.5 million in deposits in those 6 months.

“We have mobilised over N2 billion in the first two years of introducing the bank’s digital project in January 2014. We attracted new customers by adding more digital functionality to our services and tailored these revised services to meet the proximity challenge of the large unbanked population in Africa. The Beta account attracted about 2 million customers in six months,” a source at Diamond bank revealed.

GT Easy Savers account- another initiative fuelled digitally- can be opened via a mobile phone with an activated Etisalat sim, the bank website reads. The initiative, like the Beta Account, seems to tilt towards customer convenience.

“We have gone beyond servicing customers in the banking hall to serving them in their comfort zones. Bank congestion has reduced drastically because we have a renewed focus on meeting with customers outside the banking hall. We are building on this to generate more revenue than we did in previous quarters,” a source at GT Bank revealed.

Analysts who have commented on the challenge of financial exclusion in Nigeria maintain that the greatest opportunity to grow revenue will not only come from just new markets or products, but also from the ability to deliver a high quality and a differentiated customer experience.

These digital bank initiatives have attracted mixed feelings from customers who relish the fact that they do not need to storm banking halls to make deposits.

“I never had a bank account because, I get to my shop at 7am before banks are opened and I leave at about 10 pm which is way past the ‘bank bedtime’. But recently, I had a bank staff come to my shop and she offered to open an account for me right here, we opened one, I made a deposit and I got the alert after I downloaded a simple app and since then they have been coming here to receive my deposits, which means I never have to leave my shop to make deposits”, a shop owner at Balogun market revealed to BusinessDay.

With internet banking on the upsurge, analysts have predicted a significant increase in subscribers going by the growth recorded by banks leading in digital innovations.

 

LOLADE AKINMURELE