Financial technology (fintech) may pose a threat to players in financial services industry but not to many Nigerian banks. Confronted by the worst recession in many years, most Nigerian banks needed were left no choice but to either innovate or drown. Interestingly many of them did not need to reinvent the wheel; they merely deepened their innovation drive.
Access Bank and Stanbic IBTC fall among BusinessDay’s top most innovative banks in Nigeria and West Africa. Early this year, BusinessDay recognised Stanbic IBTC as the Most Innovative Pension Fund Administrator while Access Bank had won the BusinessDay Bank of the Award for 2016.
A significant product of their innovative drive is their mobile applications.
The Access Bank mobile application comes in two categories namely Mobile Banking-Classic and Mobile Banking Premium. Each of the categories is line with bank’s drive to capture low and high income customers. The Classic category, for instance, runs on Java enabled phones and Smartphones including iPhone, Android and Blackberry while works only on smartphones.
Users of the two categories (Classic and Premium) may enjoy some similarities but the key difference is that only customers on Premium have the privilege to request, confirm make other cheque instructions using their applications.
On the Google Play store, There are three applications Access Bank lay claim to, including the Access Mobile Account Opening app (10,000 downloads and 4.0 rating) and the Mobile Banking Premium (500,000 downloads and 4.2 rating). The bank recently upgraded its app to the one it calls MyAccess mobile banking to give customers a more personal experience of the bank’s services. This app has a more favourable rating and has over 10,000 downloads.
The Stanbic IBTC mobile application popularly called #APPyness is also available to smartphone users and comes with some unique features. The app has so been downloaded over 100,000 times and is rated 4.1 by users on the Google Play store.
SIMILARITIES
All the Access Bank applications share some similarities with Stanbic IBTC’s #APPyness. Users can open an account, locate ATMs and bank branches, transfer money between their accounts or to other banks, view bank accounts, card accounts and mobile money wallet etc.
There are also unique features that bring new definition to customer experience. On the Stanbic IBTC mobile app, users can subscribe to a mutual fund (+10) and watch their money grow. They can also redeem their money online. Customers can also track and transact on their pensions funds (+5).
MyAccess Bank mobile app allows users access information about loans (+5), repayment, and plan the history of their loans. There is also a feature that allows customers request for cheque books (+5), confirm cheques, and cancel or stop cheques.
Although both banks allow customers buy airtime on their mobile apps, users of Stanbic IBTC #APPyness can use the app for airtime on their roaming lines when they travel abroad (+5).
Stanbic customers can also send money to someone even if they do not have a bank account with mobile money (+5). They money get to them through an SMS voucher and can be withdrawn at Stanbic IBTC ATMs or selected access points.
