Africa's top lenders from 2020.
Citi Algeria
In Algeria, an already unstable political and economic environment has been made even more challenging by the Covid-19 outbreak. Citi Algeria has responded by engaging even more closely with selected clients while maintaining a healthy balance sheet. It has also been using technology to add value to client services.
Efficiency and caution were the bank’s watchwords as the risk environment deteriorated. It intensified its commercial attentions to existing clients as well as targeting new ones at a time when other banks were, in its words, “temporarily absent” or suffering disruption to their services.
The bank was able to ensure a smooth and early shift to remote work for most staff, and put in place contingency procedures to accept manually-initiated transactions. It held regular ‘deep dive’ portfolio reviews with risk partners, giving priority to clients in especially affected industries like automobiles and shipping. This allowed it to maintain its non-performing loan ratio at zero.
As other banks chose to review their presence in the domestic market, Citi Algeria was able to attract some major new clients in the oil and gas sector, and additional shares of wallet for large names in other industries.
A new digital direct debit solution handles all collections, improving clients’ control over a process which they can now initiate directly. Multinational clients have appreciated a solution which automatically funds salary accounts. An automatic sweep of the amount needed to fund salaries means they no longer have to send instructions for each payroll cycle.
“Lockdown has had a major impact on local and regional economies and oil prices are at unprecedented lows,” says Ramz Hamzaoui, Citi’s north Africa regional head and country officer for Algeria. “In spite of that, our clients have witnessed our ability to preserve undisrupted banking services in Algeria, responding to their needs, leveraging our balance sheet and maintaining strong controls.”
Standard Bank Angola
Standard Bank Angola increased its Tier 1 capital by nearly 50% in 2019 and its assets by more than one third. After Covid-19 struck, it was able to upgrade its core banking application remotely, with no visible impact on the customer.
While a lower oil price and reduced foreign exchange availability have significantly affected the economy, the bank’s strategy remains the same. It aims to grow the client base with a sustainable, digitised business, creating value for customers and shareholders alike. At the same time it invests continually in the development of its employees, while aiming for a positive impact on the society in which it operates.
The bank intends to be the most innovative in Angola. An important part of achieving this is a solid and robust core banking application which is upgraded nearly every year. This year, the bank achieved a new milestone in resilience by carrying out the upgrade during the pandemic, using remote teams.
Standard Bank Angola realised that the bulk of its low-income and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) clients would be impacted by Covid-19. It provided a credit moratorium on request for those affected financially by the pandemic.
More proactively, the bank has launched a new credit solution called CreditJá (instant credit). Instead of applying for a loan in the branch and waiting for approval, qualifying retail customers can now apply online for pre-approved instant credit and get a decision in under two minutes. The bank reports significant take-up.
Two years ago, Standard Bank Angola created the Herois de Azul (Heroes in Blue) project, involving employees, shareholders, customers and partners in improving public health. Today, the project is estimated to have touched 38,000 lives, and bank employees have devoted 13,000 hours of voluntary work in the community.
“As we celebrate our 10th anniversary, we plan to increase our investment in digital transformation, so that we remain relevant in the market and a trusted partner to our clients,” says Luís Teles, CEO of Standard Bank Angola.
UBA Benin
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Benin remains the most digitally advanced institution among its country peers. The Covid-19 crisis makes use of digital products even more desirable and UBA responded to the pandemic early on, adjusting the pricing of certain digital transactions to ease the burden of containment on its customers.
Two years ago, the bank introduced Benin’s first banking chatbot. Leo, the virtual assistant, was originally launched for use with Facebook but can now also be used on WhatsApp to open an account, check balances, transfer money and make a variety of payments. UBA is the only bank in Benin to offer secure banking services via WhatsApp, and says that Leo has prompted the opening of thousands of accounts.
The bank has worked with mobile operator MTN to enable money transfers between mobile money service and UBA Benin accounts or prepaid cards. The MoMo Express service allows funds in a mobile money account to be moved to or from a UBA account or card.
To encourage users to avoid contamination by making payments digitally, UBA and MTN agreed to waive transaction fees for any transfers for a period of three months. Coronavirus awareness messages have been carried by all the bank’s marketing campaigns both on social networks and traditional media.
That was accompanied by the implementation of security and customer safety measures in all branches, including systematic disinfection of premises and ATM machines, as well as social distancing in front of tellers and in the queues.
In March, Benin closed the border with Nigeria as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic. “The closing of the borders with Nigeria has somewhat disrupted the market because of the effect on trade with Nigeria, our large eastern neighbour,” says Gbenga Makinde, CEO of UBA Benin. “Our strategy has been to find solutions in this chaos by finding alternative niche markets, including the financing of some state projects.”
Bank Gaborone
It has been a productive year for Bank Gaborone, and customers have expressed satisfaction with the services. The bank launched a timely new mobile banking app, and relaunched its specialist church account for religious organisations, named Rorisa Account, the only one of its kind in Botswana.
The bank launched its three-year Kgolo (meaning growth) strategy in 2017, with four main objectives. One was: “We will have the best customer service in Botswana.” Measures to achieve this included implementing a dedicated relationship model for Treasury clients, treating all customers as individuals with needs, not just as a number, and using channels like social media to track customer queries until they were fully addressed.
An evaluation at the end of the three-year period, in June 2020, showed the customer service objective to have scored the highest – 3.8 out of 5, as measured through daily customer service cards and focus groups.
Bank Gaborone launched its new mobile banking app as part of an evolving digital banking strategy to provide a better client experience and better value. Available to all account holders, it allows them to access their accounts securely and use a variety of services. These include managing their card and electronic funds transfer limits, and making online payments or inter-account transfers.
The timing of the launch was particularly opportune as allowed customers to adhere to social distancing protocols in the current pandemic. This turned out to be a competitive advantage, as it allowed new clients to continue with normal banking activities.
The bank identified a need among churches for a flexible bank account that would let them manage their finances more easily, which is why it launched the Rorisa Account. This is a bundled service with a transactional and a cheque account. The former acts as a receiving/collection account for offerings from church members. Each day an automated sweeping facility transfers the funds in bulk to the main cheque account, making accounting, reconciliation and auditing easier.
Orabank Burkina Faso
The long-run digital transformation strategy of Orabank Burkina Faso is beginning a new phase as the bank becomes an e-money institution and prepares to launch its Keaz digital platform.
Before the arrival of Covid-19, Burkina Faso’s economy enjoyed good growth, real and prospective and, while the pandemic is putting the brakes on, forecasts suggest it will remain in positive territory. Against that backdrop, in 2019 Orabank was able to register double-digit growth in Tier 1 capital, assets and net profits.
A key strategic goal is to leverage digital transformation in what the bank calls the “very disrupted” banking sector. The aim is to gain competitive advantage, capture value, identify new markets and improve the customer experience. An important step has been an alliance with a leading telecoms provider, Onatel, enabling Orabank to become an e-money provider.
Using Onatel’s Mobicash platform, Orabank has created XOF4bn of e-money. In this way, the bank is helping to strengthen financial inclusion and to support economic development, it says.
In other technology developments, the bank has expanded its OraMoney solution, which allows people to make secure payments to the national electricity and water companies, Sonabel and Onea. OraMoney is now available in rural areas and in all the country’s major cities.
In December 2020, Orabank plans to launch Keaz, its new digital services platform for retail, corporate and institutional customers. Users will be able to initiate almost all transactions securely with an internet connection from any device. Customers without regular internet access or a smartphone can execute basic transactions using a USSD code from mobile phone operators.
Orabank Burkina Faso has also partnered with Burkina StartUp to help innovative start-ups to grow their businesses.
The bank plans to continue its transformation to support all businesses. “[We] need to reimagine our business and develop an open mindset on improving the user experience,” says Orabank Burkina Faso’s managing director, Martial Goeh-Akue. “In that sense, the pandemic as been an opportunity to accelerate our transition.”
Banco Interatlântico
Banco Interatlântico continues to turn in sparkling results. In 2019, it reported the highest profits in its 20-year history, further reining in its costs while continuing to build its Tier 1 capital. It has also proved more resilient than its peers in its response to the Covid-19 crisis.
The bank grew net profits by 188%, while growing its assets by 7.3%. Tier 1 capital grew by 24.5%. With the cost-to-income ratio falling below 50% for the first time, to 49.9%, return on equity more than doubled to 21.6%. The bank’s non-performing loan ratio tightened from 16.2% to 11.5%, below the domestic market average.
Other highlights of the year included a near 90% reduction in impairment for credit risk, and a 53% increase in the mortgage lending book, thanks to what the bank calls an “improvement in responsiveness”.
The bank attributes substantial gains to a number of other procedural advances. They included improvements in client segmentation and in the quality of the customer database. An agreement with insurer Garantia Seguros led to a number of training sessions for the branch network, generating increased commissions from cross-selling.
This year, Banco Interatlântico has introduced contactless payment to its credit cards, and will extend this technology to prepaid cards by the end of 2020. That enhances security and, in these difficult times, mitigates health risks. Its response to the pandemic included introducing credit lines to support affected customers and reducing interest rates.
The bank has made improvements to the quality of the customer database, using a specialised taskforce and registering a large number of adjustments. It says that the database now sets a very high standard, in line with its Portuguese parent’s benchmark.
It was, it says, the only bank in the market that suffered no Covid-related failures in critical functions and the only one that did not have to close a single branch.
UBA Chad
In its mission to become Africa’s leading financial services institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) strives to put the customer at the centre of its business. To make banking more accessible to those customers, UBA Chad has both expanded its branch network and improved its mobile offering.
Since late 2019, the bank has put down roots in four major locations in Chad, with new branches in Abeche, Koumra, Dembe and Goz Beida. It believes these are strategic sites, offering considerable market potential.
UBA is an active partner with the Tony Elumelu Foundation, which has financed start-up projects for over 300 Chadian entrepreneurs. Most are in remote locations with limited access to banking services, and they have urged UBA to create more branches in the interior to support small business.
The bank has also upgraded its mobile banking app, first launched in May 2018, to allow customers to transfer funds to and from other local banks. Apart from the convenience, this helps them to maintain social distancing while aiding the bank’s drive to alleviate overcrowding in the banking halls by expanding self-service options.
Leo, UBA’s chatbot virtual banker, was launched in 2018, available via Facebook Messenger; this year it has been launched on WhatsApp. UBA points out that banks need to provide solutions that suit their customers’ lifestyle. Youths make up more than 65% of Chad’s population and it believes that offering Leo on WhatsApp is lifestyle banking that appeals to millennials.
The solution, which has come in handy during the pandemic, has generated increased revenues and deposits, enhanced customer satisfaction and raised UBA brand awareness. In 2019 UBA Chad grew its assets by 46%, while increasing net profits by 6%.
“Covid-19 has reinforced UBA’s position as leading digital banking in Chad,” says Noubasra Natolban, managing director of UBA Chad. “We are striving to make banking accessible to all, and we understand that digitalisation is the future.”
UBA Cote d’Ivoire
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Côte d’Ivoire has had a scintillating run. In 2019 it nearly doubled net profits, which rose by 98%. But that was a smaller increase than in each of the previous two years.
While assets actually shrank by 9% in 2019, it was able to grow Tier 1 capital by 42%. Impressively, return on equity doubled in 2018 and again in 2019, to 44.8%, as cost-to-income ratio fell successively, to 51.3%.
The bank may have pared back its assets slightly in 2019, but they are over 80% higher than in 2017, when a significant increase in shareholder funds boosted lending capacity. It remains highly active as a single lender, a participant in syndications and as mandated lead arranger for syndicated loans.
Like other national banks in the UBA family, UBA Côte d’Ivoire has a chatbot named Leo. Through simple text conversations, the virtual assistant helps customers perform tasks such as opening an account, checking balances and paying utility bills. Leo was only available on Facebook Messenger until November 2019, when it was launched on WhatsApp.
Another UBA initiative is U-Connect, which links all UBA branches across Africa. It allows customers to access their accounts and carry out transactions wherever they are within the West African Economic and Monetary Union and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community.
To promote financial inclusion and establish banking relationships with students, UBA Cote d’Ivoire launched the Nextgen savings account in 2019. Designed for students aged 18 to 25, it includes a cut-price debit card and discounted interest rates.
“The pandemic turned out to be an opportunity for us,” says UBA Côte d’Ivoire’s managing director, Sarata Kone. “While the rate of physically opening new accounts fell by about 40% from April to June, the use of digital channels grew by 60%. Customers were looking for an effective and secure way to bank.”
Equity Bank Congo
As a result of an acquisition by its parent, Equity Bank Congo is poised to become the biggest bank in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It has spent the past 18 months digitally transforming its products and services, repositioning itself to take advantage of what it says is the DRC market’s “huge” potential.
In November 2019, Equity Group Holdings began the process of acquiring a 66.53% stake in Banque Commerciale du Congo (BCDC), the oldest bank in the country. Once the BCDC business has been amalgamated with Equity Bank Congo, the enlarged entity will be DRC’s largest bank.
As such, it hopes to grow its market share in DRC, which has more than 30 million unbanked people over 15 years old and where mobile money accounts (16.3% of the over-15s) and digital payments (21.7%) are slowly being embraced.
The bank’s Eazzy Banking suite of digital products offers a range of services to both retail and corporate clients. They include EazzyDirect, which allows the Congolese diaspora living in Europe to transfer money home at a competitive price.
The bank has migrated its core banking system from product-oriented to client-oriented software that supports the multichannel customer experience. It has launched chatbot services, available via Telegram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and USSD platforms, to empower customers to become their own bankers.
As part of its response to the Covid-19 crisis, the bank supported its business customers by restructuring loan exposures with either a grace period or a moratorium, depending on the severity of the impact, and making additional facilities available to those that needed it. It supported the healthcare sector with a $1m grant for protective clothing and equipment for medical staff.
In 2019, the bank grew its Tier 1 capital by 10.5%, its assets by 40.5% and its net profits by 3.6%.
CAC International Bank
While CAC International Bank has been setting the pace in technological innovation among Djibouti banks, it is also determined to apply more than the minimum standards in international compliance.
Djibouti became a member of the Financial Action Task Force on money laundering in 2018. Last year, CAC International Bank became the first bank in the country to undergo a separate compliance department audit in line with US standards. This year the bank installed Univius anti-money laundering software, allowing it to store and evaluate customer data, to track fund flows and to screen transactions.
It has also recently subscribed to Swift’s Standardised Corporate Environment service, which allows secure communications and instructions between registered corporates and financial institutions.
In another anti-fraud initiative, it has introduced a corporate cheque writer for its corporate clients, generating printed cheques which are more difficult to forge or alter. The app saves all cheque details, making bank reconciliations that much easier. As the Central Bank of Djibouti automates the clearing process, the bank is adding magnetic ink character recognition codes to its cheques.
CAC International Bank was the first in Djibouti to introduce a mobile banking app, and the first to deploy an e-banking app. It installed the country’s first cash deposit machine, which takes cash and cheques in both US dollar and Djiboutian franc. As soon as customers make a deposit, they receive an SMS notification.
Most of the bank’s business customers have opted to use the e-banking service which, among other features, allows them to issue letters of credit, process international transfers and view exchange rates.
The bank has more ATMs than its competitors and is the biggest player in the point-of-sale (POS) market, with around 60% of Djibouti’s merchants using its POS devices. In 2019, while its Tier 1 capital remained unchanged, CAC International Bank grew its assets by 21% and its net profits by 15%.
National Bank of Egypt
With financial inclusion identified as its number one priority, National Bank of Egypt (NBE) has launched a number of new products to support the concept. At the same time, it has continued to expand its customer base, its branches and its ATM network.
One financial inclusion product is Aman, a three-year life insurance certificate aimed at temporary and seasonal workers who are not covered by social security. It pays a fixed interest rate, which is paid out at maturity, less the insurance premiums. It is available to customers of 18 to 59 years of age and no medical examination is required. The certificates can now be purchased via NBE’s Phone Cash mobile application.
The bank launched Meeza prepaid cards in May 2019. These can be used to make electronic payments to state entities, free of charge. A year after launch, there were nearly 2 million cards in circulation. Numbers of the bank’s more conventional prepaid cards rose from 2.8 million to 5.1 million in the year to June 2020.
NBE has launched the second phase of its internet banking product, Al Ahly Net, which continues to attract new customers, notably from the younger set. In the year to June 2020, retail customers rose from 1.3 million to 2.7 million, while corporate customers increased from 13,000 to 32,000.
The bank was the first in the market to launch an e-branch. It now has 11 of them and has a target of 25 by the end of this year. Its Phone Cash digital wallet has been upgraded, allowing users to pay with a QR code and to receive remittances directly from abroad.
In 2019, NBE grew its Tier 1 capital by 14.8%. It increased its assets by 4.5% and its net profits by a handsome 99.8%. Its non-performing loan ratio has remained low, less than 2% for the past two years.
Ecobank Gabon
Gabon’s economy was only just getting over the damage caused by the 2014 oil crisis, when it was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Ecobank Gabon enjoyed the best of the recovery in 2019, however, increasing its profits by more than 500%.
Assets grew by a more modest 4% over the year, and Tier 1 capital actually shrank by 42%. But in the past 18 months the bank has transformed its customer service, using a digital lens to review its entire chain of processes, service offerings and distribution channels.
Integral to this has been an upgrade of the core banking system from Flexcube 7.1, more than 10 years old, to version 12.4. The new solution is cheaper to maintain and more secure, with a more flexible customer interface. It also allows seamless integration with third party apps through application programming interfaces and web services, and makes customer services more continuously available.
Both retail and business customers have been migrated to digital solutions: individuals have moved to Ecobank Online, compatible with computers, tablets and smartphones; and business customers to internet platforms Omni Plus and Omni Lite.
The result has been an increase in the bank’s digital customer base from 54% of the total in 2019 to 76% today. The number of digital transactions has risen over that period by 39% and the value by 197%. Correspondingly, transactions at bank counters have fallen by 67% in number and 17% in value. This shift to digital proved essential during the pandemic.
“Covid-19 has caused serious socio-economic disruption and widespread anxiety for everyone, but workers and businesses in some sectors have been particularly hard hit,” says Nicholas Achiri, managing director of Ecobank Gabon. “At Ecobank we’ve put comprehensive measures in place to prevent the coronavirus spreading and to support our customers. Our digital capabilities have really shown their worth.”
Ecobank Gambia
Ecobank Gambia had a strong year, raising Tier 1 capital by 17%, assets by 38% and net profits by 31%. It wants to be the partner of choice for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and this year began collaborating with search engine Google to make it happen.
Ecobank is focused on helping MSMEs to thrive by adopting technology. So with Google’s help, the bank will provide webinars educating MSMEs about timely and relevant solutions that will increase their digital engagement and deliver business growth.
Those solutions can be free or paid-for. Google My Business is a free online tool which allows a business to promote its profile and website on Google Searches and Maps, while Google Ads is paid-for online advertising. The solutions are specifically tailored to meet the needs of the customer, and the bank notes that there is something to suit any MSME, whether or not they have a marketing budget.
This year the bank upgraded its mobile banking app. Enhanced product features include virtual cards, which allows a customer to generate and use a virtual electronic payment card for card-not-present transactions. A 16-digit account number, expiry date and card verification value are created for every new virtual card.
A transfer by email/text feature allows a customer to generate a payment link to be used by another beneficiary, and a split payments service lets them split a bill with friends or family who are registered on Ecobank Mobile. The app now also allows international transfers.
“We are continuing to drive financial inclusion and digital adoption and our focus is on expanding our suite of innovative banking services and functionality,” says Carl Asem, managing director of Ecobank Gambia. “In the past 18 months we have massively increased our network of Xpress Point agencies to provide local communities with convenient banking options.”
Stanbic Bank Ghana
An upgrade to the core banking system at Stanbic Bank Ghana has accelerated the bank’s digital transformation journey, prompting customers to adopt digital channels in large numbers. The upgrade will also lead to a meaningful reduction in certain hardware operating costs.
The bank’s Finacle core banking solution has been upgraded to version 3.0, adding several new features. One is a digital engagement hub that seamlessly connects the bank with third parties, with multiple host system applications and with its existing channels.
It also includes a new Moby banker/mobile teller solution that makes bank staff user experience simpler and more effective. An improved vehicle and assets leasing solution is yet another new feature. In all, the upgrade has helped the bank to digitise service both inside and outside its branches, leading to improved turnaround times as customers are served more quickly at all touch points.
Stanbic Bank Ghana has a chatbot – Eva or “enhanced virtual assistance” – which customers can use to open accounts, manage their profiles, initiate transactions and make general queries. This year it introduced the Personal Finance Manager (PFM) to allow customers to take more control of their financial lives. Using advanced analytics and natural language processing, the PFM provides a consolidated view of a customer’s spending and helps with prudent financial planning.
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Stanbic Bank Ghana introduced Service Request, an online platform that lets customers carry out certain transactions without visiting a branch. They include payments and transfers, mobile money linkage, increasing transaction limits and resetting PINs.
The bank increased its Tier 1 capital by 3.7% in 2019, while boosting its assets by 50% and its net profits by 24.4%.
Ecobank Guinée
Following an upgrade of its core banking system, Ecobank Guinée now offers new digital platforms for business and retail customers. It has also developed a market-leading mobile payment solution.
The bank has migrated its Flexcube core banking software from version 7.1 to version 12.4. Benefits include 24/7 availability, enhanced security and a 360-degree view of customers, which helps account managers to cross-sell products. The cost savings attributed to the new platform are estimated at $10m over the next five years.
The bank has rolled out three banking platforms: Omni Plus for large companies, Omni Lite for smaller ones and Ecobank Mobile for individuals. Omni Plus replaces an older Omni platform. With an improved user interface, it also allows clients to transact even on non-working days.
Omni Lite is a completely new platform for small to medium-sized enterprises, allowing interbank, international and group payments, with 24/7 access to services and account monitoring in real time.
Ecobank Mobile offers various value-added services, including virtual card functionality, where customers can create and share virtual Visa cards for online purchases. They can also share payments when a bill is being split between friends, and perform email or SMS transfers.
Ecobank Guinée has forged partnerships with supermarkets to encourage consumers to use its digital payments solutions in the light of Covid-19. It has also been awarded contracts by non-governmental organisations, such as Catholic Relief Services and the World Food Programme.
In 2019, the bank’s Tier 1 capital increased by 17% and profits grew 41%, alongside a 14.5% rise in assets. Its future plans include focusing more intently on developing products and services for women entrepreneurs.
“Women-led businesses have long suffered a significant financing gap,” notes Diawadou Bah, managing director of Ecobank Guinée. “That’s despite significant evidence that they are more likely to be financially disciplined and less likely to default on loan repayments. We see this as a real business opportunity and will be increasing our loan allocations to that segment.”
Ecobank Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau was hoping for gross domestic product growth of 5% in 2020 before Covid-19 hit. It now expects the economy to shrink by 1.5%. But Ecobank Guinea-Bissau began the year in good shape, having enjoyed asset growth of 20% in 2019 and a 147% uplift in profits.
Like others in the Ecobank family, the bank has been undergoing a process of digital transformation, resulting in a series of new products. It has updated its core banking software, and made significant updates to the Omni and Omni Lite platforms serving corporate and small and medium-sized enterprise customers.
Ecobank Mobile is breaking new ground, allowing retail customers to transfer funds via their phones both locally and internationally. Its new Rapidtransfer app includes an Ecobank Africa menu, which enables Africans abroad to send money home to their families in any country where there is an Ecobank.
The bank has also created so-called an Ecobank ‘payment zone’ in Guinea-Bissau, establishing point of sale devices where people congregate, for example near markets or the airport, to help customers make the digital shift and encourage them to use the bank’s electronic platform.
The strategy is to expand access to banking services while reducing physical customer presence in branches. To that end, the bank has increased the number of decentralised agencies located closer to communities. Customers can now make QR code payments at affiliated merchants and withdraw money from ATMs without using a bank card.
Growing customer deposits is a strategic priority. “Our digital payment platforms are facilitating this objective by widening our scope, enhancing low-cost deposit generation and increasing transaction activity on our platforms,” says Ghislaine Samake, managing director of Ecobank Guinea Bissau. “Our e-government digital solutions are also contributing to this aim.”
The bank’s scalable digital payment and collection solutions can play a significant role in enabling intra-African trade growth for domestic businesses, Ms Samake adds. “We’re providing them with effective working capital management and high transactional banking solutions in multiple markets and currencies.”
Co-operative Bank of Kenya
As Co-operative Bank of Kenya implements its digitisation strategy plans, it is enjoying gains from increased efficiency and enhanced digital offerings to its customers. Products such as E-credit and Mcoopcash are continually upgraded.
E-credit is a mobile-based automated end-to-end loan origination system that handles applications, appraisals, disbursements and recoveries. It uses a credit-scoring engine that was developed in-house and offers short-term loans to those in urgent financial need, as long as they have a salary.
Originally, customers needed to have borrowed previously from the Co-operative Bank before they could use E-credit, but now the system is able to score and allocate credit to any bank customer, as well as pre-qualify customers based on their score. The turnaround for loans is fast, a meaningful advantage given mounting competition from fintechs and telecoms operators.
Mcoopcash is a mobile-based bank account which can also provide access to an existing bank account. Recent upgrades include the introduction of two-factor authentication. The Mcoopcash Bulk Payment facility, available to clients who make frequent multiple payments, now allows payments directly to recipients’ Co-op bank accounts or Mcoopcash mobile wallets.
In November 2019, the bank rolled out its new online internet banking solution for business customers, investing in a digital omni-channel platform which provides real-time access to account information and the ability to process payments anywhere, anytime.
While the bank increased its assets by 10.5% and net profits by 12.4% in 2019, unsurprisingly Covid-19 is expected to take its toll on profitability this year. Despite the difficulties during the pandemic, the bank has strongly supported its customers and employees.
“We have a work from home model and have increased the digitisation of internal processes and customer touchpoints,” says Co-operative Bank of Kenya’s CEO, Dr Gideon Muriuki. He adds that a few customers in hard-hit economic sectors have needed support in restructuring their loans.
UBA Liberia
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Liberia has racked up an impressive list of national firsts, enough for it to claim to be the country’s leader in digital banking.
The bank has enjoyed immediate commercial benefit by being the first to be integrated with the Central Bank of Liberia National Electronic Payment System (NEPS) Switch phase 2 project. This enables interbank transfer and local routing of point-of-sale transactions through the NEPS Switch.
As the only bank to integrate with this system, UBA Liberia is now the sole collecting bank for mobile tax payments via telcos on behalf of the Liberia Revenue Authority.
It has also launched the country’s first banking chatbot, Leo. The virtual assistant lets customers use their social media accounts, including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, to carry out basic banking transactions. They can transfer funds between accounts, buy airtime, pay bills, locate ATMs, and block cards, among other things, 24 hours a day.
In yet another first, customers expecting international remittances can now have them transferred directly into their UBA bank account, instead of having to go into a bank branch. They can then collect their funds from the nearest ATM. This remittance to account product applies to transfers via MoneyGram and Western Union.
In 2019, UBA Liberia increased its Tier 1 capital by 20%, its assets by 34% and its net profits by 92%. This year, banking has been one of the hardest hit Liberian sectors by Covid-19, affected by the downturn in services and mining. However, UBA Liberia has weathered the challenges.
“Overall, Covid-19 has presented opportunities for UBA Liberia, especially in the field of digital banking,” says Nkechi Joyce Arizor, the bank’s managing director. “It has helped in the successful migration of many customers to our various e-channel products. It has also boosted deposit growth and income generation via inflows from support groups helping to fight the pandemic.”
NBS Bank
In 2019, NBS Bank completed its third year in a five-year turnaround plan. The focus was on cleaning up its systems and processes, and ensuring that the former building society has the means, ability and tools to compete in the current environment.
One of the bank’s earlier problems was insufficient capital, which prevented it from capitalising on opportunities and making the investments necessary to catch up with rapid changes in the banking environment. It suffered from high levels of non-performing loans and inefficient technical and operational environments.
NBS Bank brought in Rabobank of the Netherlands as a technical partner. It raised capital through an initial public offering, followed subsequently by a rights issue. The bank has since pursued its strategy of improving its digital platforms and making banking easier for customers.
That included the introduction of EazyApp, a mobile banking app available on both Android and iOS, and of EazyWallet, which allows customers without an NBS account to access digital services via USSD.
The bank has also relaunched SME Banking with a new and improved proposition. Small and medium-sized enterprise clients have access to a dedicated team of relationship managers who are not only their point of contact but also offer business and financial management advisory services.
After reporting a loss in 2017, the bank returned to profit in 2018, and in 2019 net profits leapt by 162%. Tier 1 capital rose by 19% and assets by 31%. Return on equity more than doubled to 34%, while cost-to-income and non-performing loan ratios both improved, to 79% and 13.8% respectively.
Even Covid-19 has not shaken NBS Bank’s tenacity. “The bank has business continuity plans to ensure an appropriate response to any business disruption, including the Covid-19 pandemic,” says CEO Kwanele Ngwenya. “We reduced digital services fees by 40% for all customers, as directed by the central bank. Customers whose earnings or businesses were negatively impacted were encouraged to engage the bank on restructuring their loans.”
Mauritius Commercial Bank
Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) believes in “success beyond numbers”, and its Corporate Sustainability Programme aims to develop a sustainable local economy, protect the island’s cultural and environmental heritage and promote individual and collective wellbeing. In line with the first of those goals, it has launched its “Lokal is Beautiful” scheme.
This aims to improve access to finance for responsible Mauritian entrepreneurs. The scheme has specific criteria for different programmes, but they include goods having at least 80% local content and qualifying borrowers employing at least 75% Mauritian citizens. “We have ensured that sustainability remains an integral part of our strategy and is embedded in our actions,” says Alain Law Min, CEO of MCB.
As part of its digital transformation programme, MCB has improved the user interface of its internet banking platform for corporate and institutional customers. It has introduced a new user-friendly payments app, SmartApprove, which lets authorised signatories approve transactions via tablet or smartphone.
Since launch, other functionalities have been added to SmartApprove, including a standing order facility and Alert for New Beneficiary, a feature which mitigates phishing risks.
A fully-fledged small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) strategic business unit has been created, so that the bank can provide more synchronised, impactful support to its SME clients. A new dedicated mobile banking service caters specifically to SME needs. Called JuicePro, it allows customers to view account balances in real time, keep track of the last 30 transactions, transfer funds and formulate direct feedback by taking a photo on the app.
With more than 1 million individual and corporate customers, MCB has consolidated its position as the leading bank in Mauritius. It leads the markets in corporate loans (where it has a 41% share), housing loans (36%) and total rupee deposits (47%). In the year to June 2019, it increased its Tier 1 capital by 10.7% , its assets by 21.5% and its net profits by 29.9%.
Attijariwafa Bank
It has been a year of important partnerships for Attijariwafa Bank (AWB). At the same time it has continued to develop digital solutions for its customers, a process accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis.
The AWB group operates in 25 countries, mostly in Africa and Europe. It is committed to strengthening trade relations between Africa and Asia, and in 2019 it signed a partnership agreement with Japan’s Mizuho Bank. The two parties agreed to co-operate in promoting good practices in banking, finance and business.
AWB has also signed a partnership agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China (Chexim). The two have promised to promote African imports to China, as well as the financing of investment and the construction of industrial parks in the countries where the AWB group is present. That will be financed via a $5bn fund set up by Chexim.
The AWB group supports public and private development projects in the countries where it operates. Notable undertakings where it signed financing agreements in 2019 included construction of the Kékéli gas power plant Togo, which will significantly contribute to that country’s electrification and, in Côte d’Ivoire’s capital city, Abidjan, a new technical landfill centre for better waste disposal and recovery.
During the year, AWB’s Tier 1 capital grew by 7.4%. Its assets increased by 4.4% and its net profits by 3.2%. Return on equity fell slightly to 14.8%, while cost-to-income ratio was virtually flat at 47.8%. Its non-performing loan ratio fell marginally to 6.6%.
On the outbreak of the pandemic, the bank recommended that its customers use its different remote banking channels, such as Attijarinet and Attijari Mobile. Self-service banking spaces have been provided in branches for cash and cheque deposits. Digital interfaces continued to be improved, including one enabling customers to apply remotely for the postponement of loan repayments.
Millennium bim
Millennium bim has increased its investment in the development of banking services on social networks, which it sees as a way to promote financial inclusion and gain competitive advantage. The evolution of chat-banking through messaging apps, widely used by younger generations, has allowed the bank to establish an even closer relationship with its clients.
The bank was the first in Mozambique to launch a mobile banking transactional platform that runs on WhatsApp. Called ‘Izi on WhatsApp’, clients can carry out enquiries, transfers, top-ups and documentation updates. The app proved hugely popular and registered more than 400,000 bank transactions in less than a year.
Millennium bim was also the first in its market to launch a similar Facebook Messenger service, informational only at first but now transactional. It is called “Izi on Facebook”. The bank says that more than 45% of its clients actively use its digital services every month.
The bank is implementing cloud computing technologies to use its resources more flexibly and efficiently. Its Open Payments Platform, still in development, is a cloud-based open application programming interface environment for corporate clients. It will allow them to test, integrate and deploy the bank’s digital payment channels, such as Izi and mPesa (mobile banking), on their own websites, mobile apps and other digital channels.
Last year was challenging for the Mozambique economy, which suffered the ill effects of two major cyclones and local conflict, even before the arrival of Covid-19. Millennium bim, Mozambique’s biggest and most solvent bank, proved resilient, however, and was able to grow its Tier 1 capital by 11.3%, assets by 7.6% and net profits by 5.4%.
“The impact of important macroeconomic changes on the real economy led us to be more conservative on new credit, and to focus on liquidity and capital management to protect our balance sheet,” says José Reino da Costa, CEO of Millennium bim.
Orabank Niger
Orabank Niger has been able to support many of Niger’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), who have traditionally had poor access to finance, thanks to a credit line from the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD).
Saudi-based ICD made Ä40m available to the bank’s parent, Oragroup, to finance murabaha (cost-plus financing) projects and investments. Using this line, Orabank Niger has financed five local SMEs for a combined total of Ä15m, creating more than 1500 new jobs directly and 3000 indirectly.
The loans should also improve the bank’s visibility, as it plays a key role in the $7bn Niger-Benin oil pipeline project.
Orabank Niger has cast its net wider by establishing a desk dedicated to Chinese companies. This has raised the bank’s profile in that quarter, arousing the interest of Chinese companies operating in Niger.
The bank has made its ATM network more resilient. A number of off-site ATMs have been commissioned at strategic locations in the capital city of Niamey. It has also deployed several new generation ATMs powered by optional photovoltaic generators; and introduced new electronic payment terminals to traders.
Technological progress has been made in the deployment of mobile money services with phone operators Orange Niger, Airtel Niger and Moov Niger, allowing customers to transfer between bank accounts and electronic wallets for payment purposes.
The bank’s OraNet, Ora Virement and Keaz web services let customers carry out banking operations remotely, while Wecollect lets them make transfers to other customers of any Oragroup bank. Customers can also now make Western Union transfers online by debiting their Orabank account or using a bank card.
“We are already perceived in the market as innovative and competitive, but competition is becoming fierce,” says Orabank Niger managing director Abdoul Younoussi. “We will continue morphing toward a digital model, with more focus on customer satisfaction.”
Zenith Bank
Since it started business in 1990, Zenith Bank has established a reputation as a successful corporate bank. Now it is leveraging that success to make significant headway into the retail market.
The bank’s ‘Retail Takeover’ strategy involves aggressive on-boarding of retail customers, including the employees of its corporate customers, and roll-out of retail banking services, all with the help of its large branch network.
It has also started to recruit agents in communities where it does not have a branch, and where residents can’t afford transport to visit one. Since the agent banking programme was launched in 2019, Zenith has appointed more than 10,000 agents, with a target of 30,000 by the end of this year. The agents contribute to 10% of all new account openings every week.
The bank remains committed to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and retail businesses, and is increasing its capacity to give them financing. The Zenith SME Facility has enabled many SMEs to get loans at single-digit interest rates.
Zenith Bank has relaunched its EazyBanking solution, which comprises a USSD and a mobile banking product. It allows customers to open low-cost accounts and wallets using their phone numbers and has helped to reduce traffic inside Zenith’s banking halls. Features of the Zenith Mobile Banking app include scheduled savings, quick transfers, airtime and bills payment, and dispense error resolutions.
In spite a challenging environment in 2019, the bank was able to grow its Tier 1 capital by 15.5%, assets by 6.6% and net profits by nearly 8%.
“The ever-evolving trend of digitalisation and the disruption in the financial services space has continued to shape our strategy,” observes Ebenezer Onyeagwu, Zenith Bank’s CEO. “We are steadily building dynamic competences and capabilities in the application of digital technology to revamp our service offering and anchor our retail banking drive.”
Equity Bank Rwanda
Guided by the principle that healthy stakeholders make for a healthy bank, Equity Bank Rwanda has thrown itself into the fight against Covid-19. It has both donated to the cause and helped to create a support programme for ailing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
In April this year, the bank contributed 22,225 testing kits worth Rwf1bn ($1m) to the government of Rwanda in support of national efforts to combat the virus. In May, it partnered with Enterprise Partner Solutions and the Mastercard Foundation to set up a Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience programme.
The objective was to support 120 SMEs and their value chains in the tourism and hospitality sector, one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. The Mastercard Foundation has committed $2.5m, which will be used to provide financial support of up to $50,000 each and technical assistance, with Equity Bank Rwanda as financing partner. Incubation support will be given to 60 start-ups and another 50 established SMEs will benefit from an accelerator programme.
As part of an upgrade to the Eazzy Banking app, the bank has introduced EazzyPay , a real-time mobile payment solution which eliminates the risks associated with carrying cash.
Eazzy 247 Akokanya is an instant-opening account which can be self-boarded via an app or USSD. Customers can use it to shop and pay utility bills, and the app version allows the possibility of instant loans in the shape of Eazzy Loan.
In 2019 the bank was able to increase its Tier 1 capital by 27%, assets by 18% and net profits by an impressive 54%.
“Our strategy of delivering relevant products and services was impacted somewhat on the credit side but also stimulated on the payments side,” says managing director Hannington Namara. “SMEs in sectors like agriculture and pharmaceuticals have shown more resilience and we have focused on them to maximise opportunities and revitalise the economy towards recovery.”
Orabank Senegal
Orabank Senegal has been on a major strategic initiative to streamline and strengthen its currency business, pointing out that the availability of foreign currency is essential for its corporate customers.
This has involved strengthening foreign exchange sales and international operations team, both the front and the back office. The bank has increased its BCEAO (Central Bank of West African States) hedging, taking advantage of pre-financing possibilities and lowering prices on eligible transfers. It is now the cheapest bank in this market
It has implemented technological up-grades of both Swift gpi and Swift Score, and has completed compliance with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. It has also diversified the range of currencies it trades to include Australian dollar, South African rand and Japanese yen, among others.
The bank has also sought to increase its sources of foreign currency. It has placed ATMs in sites with a large foreign clientele, such as hotels and hypermarkets, developed commercial acquisitions via e-commerce and point-of-sale (POS) terminals, and is providing brokerage for money transfer operators. Its foreign exchange earnings have been increasing rapidly.
Orabank Senegal has introduced contactless payments to its POS terminals and bank cards. The new range of terminals have proved popular with merchants, providing competitive advantage in the Covid-19 crisis.
This all added up to a very successful 2019, in the course of which the bank increased its Tier 1 capital by 47.6%, its assets by 47.3% and its net profits by a satisfying 69.1%.
“Major trends include customers’ appetite for cash management tools, including adoption of Swift gpi, and the strengthening of capital requirements and banking regulations,” says Luc Morio, managing director of Orabank Senegal. “Our strategy has focused on greater cross-functionality between cash management, trade finance, digital banking and the ‘classic’ banking relationship – which remains highly valuable.”
UBA Sierra Leone
Like other regional banks in the United Bank for Africa (UBA) group, UBA Sierra Leone has set great store by achieving digital banking leadership in its market. And like its brethren it has made a bid for competitive advantage with Leo, the banking chatbot.
Leo, the virtual assistant, is a chat-banking service that uses artificial intelligence to carry out transactions and answer queries in real time and without human intervention. It is available both to existing customers and to anyone with a device that is WhatsApp- or Facebook-enabled. It uses two-factor authentication and all transactions are encrypted end-to-end.
For corporate customers, the bank has introduced the Corporate Payment Solution, a straight-through process that automatically credits customer inflows to their accounts around the clock. A new web-based trade platform, called the Fusion Banking Trade Innovation (FBTI), provides ‘out-of-the-box’ online trade services for corporate customers.
FBTI is a multi-regional request and reporting application that supports global processing and allows customers to manage their import and export financing. It allows the bank’s trade finance department to process transactions throughout their life cycle and provides a full audit trail for the customer. The FBTI technology has already boosted trade volumes and cut turnaround times.
Other new digital products include two mobile money services – Mobile App and Push & Pull (bank-to-wallet and wallet-to-bank). Like Leo, they let customers open an account, buy airtime, transfer money and pay bills from the comfort of their own homes. The Push & Pull product is offered in conjunction with the Orange mobile wallet.
The numbers highlight the fact that UBA Sierra Leone had a very successful year in 2019, with Tier 1 capital up by 47.8%, assets ahead by 40.4% and net profits increased by 46.3%.
Investec
Investec is exploiting its established presence in both South Africa and the UK with its private banking international strategy. It aims to provide its clients with seamless, integrated access to banking and investment services, both locally and internationally.
The private banking initiative is essentially an iteration of the bank’s ‘One Place’ strategy. This proposes giving clients access to its full product suite, enabling them to create, grow and preserve their wealth internationally. The offering has three private banking niches – banking, structured property finance and private capital.
South African private banking clients can apply for a sterling-based UK transactional bank account through Investec Online. Once opened, the account is linked to the client’s South African online profile and added as an international beneficiary. Clients can then see their account, transfer funds and open online transactional accounts in several other currencies.
Investec provides tax and fiduciary services, and a specialised group in the South African client support centre can service South African clients with UK products.
Investec was determined to mount an urgent and constructive response to the Covid-19 pandemic by supporting staff, clients and communities. It committed funds of £3.6m ($4.7m) to a variety of enterprising initiatives. They included direct financial support for employees of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, including for feeding schemes, flu vaccines, youth groups, personal protective equipment fabrication and a free online winter school for older maths and physics pupils.
“We are focused on building our business for the long term, managing risks prudently and supporting our clients and colleagues,” says Richard Wainwright, CEO of Investec Bank. “Cost containment, growth initiatives and digitalisation remain key priorities. In South Africa, we are comfortable with our positioning and growth ambitions and the value of our brand.”
Equity Bank South Sudan
In line with Equity Group 3.0 strategy to migrate all transactions to digital platforms, Equity Bank South Sudan has deployed the Eazzy Banking Suite.
The banking suite comprises three digital solutions. EazzyBiz is a web-based product that allows corporate clients to make payments and collections and manage their liquidity. It gives a 360-degree view of accounts and allows host-to-host transfers of files between bank and client. The Eazzy Banking App enables internal funds transfer, balance enquiries and mini statements. Customers can use it to make cash withdrawals from an agent location and to buy MTN airtime, for example.
The platform is now easier to navigate, with no annual fee. It requires a one-time-PIN to authenticate login and transactions, providing robust security.
Equity Bank South Sudan has invested in what it believes to be one of the best merchant acquiring systems, tried and tested by its associate in the Kenyan market. Acquirers enable merchants to accept card payment by acting as a link between merchants, issuers and payment networks. The bank now has more than 50 merchants across the country, including all the major hotels, restaurants and shopping malls in Juba. It says its main competition is cash, which most people in the country still recognise as the only form of payment.
After it was interrupted by conflict in 2013 and 2016, the bank’s cash drop and social payment distribution service has been relaunched. Its clients include the World Food Programme, the International Red Cross and the EU’s Impact programme.
In addition, it has responded quickly to the global pandemic. “We value the time and health of our customers amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and remain committed to serve them in a secure environment,” says Equity Bank South Sudan’s managing director Addis Ababa Othow Akongdit. “The bank has deployed clear initiatives to move all payments to digital solutions and ensure our customers can access banking services 24/7.”
Omdurman National Bank
Omdurman National Bank (ONB) is more than halfway through a five-year strategic plan which began in 2017 and should come to a conclusion next year. Its objectives include continuous improvement of technology systems to save its customers time and effort. It believes this is the way to maintain its “pioneering” position among Sudanese banks.
As part of this continuous improvement, the bank has implemented an electronic archiving system which will record and store all documents, contributing to both cost and quality control. It has invested in a Bank-BI anti-terrorist financing and anti-money laundering system to reduce the risks in that sphere of activity. It has also deployed a new risk assessment system to reduce the potential for losses from default.
In the front office, ONB has launched a mobile app called O-Cash, which allows customers to make a range of payments using their phones, including utility bills, government fees and university fees. In all, the bank estimates it is enjoying a return on its technology investments of over 200%.
More traditionally, it has launched a new financing product for real estate, called Ewaa. Borrowers can make use of Ewaa for new construction, building renovation and maintenance, and the purchase of building materials, construction equipment and tools.
During 2019, ONB boosted its Tier 1 capital by a generous 161%. Its total sharia assets stayed level. Net profits rose by only 1%, having more than doubled in 2018.
“The virus appeared in February in Sudan, which was locked down from March to June,” says ONB’s general manager, Abd-Elhameed Mohamed Jameel. “As a result, there was a slight decrease in some of the bank’s indicators, such as total liquidity, investments and total profits.”
Stanbic Bank Tanzania
As part of its process of digital transformation, Stanbic Bank Tanzania recently completed an upgrade of its core banking system. The principal aim of the upgrade was to serve its clients more seamlessly while adding value. A reorganisation of internal structures reflects a more sector-focused approach, with sector specialists making their expertise available to clients.
The upgrade enabled the launch of a Finacle mobile teller or ‘Moby’ solution, which simplifies teller transaction steps, typically from 17 clicks down to five. This improves turnaround time on transactions by more than 40%, with a corresponding reduction in customer waiting times. Along with the capacity improvement comes a reduction in branch network cost.
The bank has also been able to roll out Finacle’s vehicle and asset financing (VAF) system to replace the legacy hire purchase and leasing system, which had dated infrastructure revenue leakages and fewer security controls. Finally implemented in June 2020, this was the first time anywhere that this VAF system had been deployed and supported virtually.
Tanzania is a net importer, and China is its biggest supplier, providing around 20% of all imports. The largest shareholder in Standard Bank, Stanbic Bank Tanzania’s South African-based parent, is the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. It has used this connection to create its Africa China Agent Proposition (ACAP), which is now available to Stanbic Bank Tanzania customers.
Through ACAP, which employs a large Chinese trade agent, Tanzanian importers can source Chinese suppliers, negotiate best prices, deal with quality issues, handle shipping logistics and finance the trade.
“In the past 18 months, we have focused on key sectors driving Tanzania’s economic growth, including construction, mining, manufacturing, transport and communication,” says Kevin Wingfield, CEO of Stanbic Bank Tanzania. “We have also partnered with multilateral financial institutions to support the government, and the value chains involved, in key infrastructure projects.”
Ecobank Togo
Togo is the ultimate home of Ecobank, Africa’s largest banking group in terms of footprint. Like other banks in the group, Ecobank Togo has recently upgraded its core banking application. At the same time, it is doing everything it can to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
The earlier core banking software lacked the flexibility to meet customer needs, made it difficult to integrate third party apps and did not meet the bank’s security requirements. The new core banking system addresses these shortcomings and more.
It enhances the way the bank interacts with customers and increases speed to market for new products. It improves data quality, increases efficiency and, by allowing rationalisation of other apps, cuts costs.
The upgrade went hand-in-hand with significantly enhanced internet banking platforms. The consumer banking platform was reborn as Ecobank Online, commercial banking migrated to Omni Lite, while corporate and investment bank customers now use the Omni platform. All harness the latest technology, which makes them feature-rich, faster and easier to use.
Each digital platform came into its own when the crisis began and people were advised to leave home as little as possible. The bank adopted comprehensive safety measures for staff, customers and visitors at all its branches and ATMs. Xpress Point agents were advised of preventative measures and, in Togo, many of them temporarily suspended operations.
Ecobank Togo waived or reduced fees on some transfers and increased daily transaction limits on mobile banking. For customers in financial difficulty, the bank reviewed repayment terms on a case-by-case basis and accommodated legitimate requests for moratoriums. The bank also contributed cash, healthcare equipment and medical supplies to the government and health agencies.
The bank points out that the relevance of the Ecobank strategy has been highlighted by Covid-19, with its digital platforms providing seamless continuity of service.
Union Internationale de Banques
Responding to new international regulations, Union Internationale de Banques (UIB) last year launched an extensive know-your-customer (KYC) programme , which aims to build a detailed and comprehensive customer database.
The KYC project covered retail, professional and corporate customers, establishing fresh standards and validation procedures for the opening of new accounts. It also meant reviewing the files of existing clients, prioritised according to level of money laundering risk, and putting in place regular subsequent reviews to ensure that customer data is kept up to date.
UIB, part of the Société Générale group, has been ahead of the rest of the Tunisian banking sector in KYC compliance, which should prove a source of competitive advantage in years to come.
The bank was also the first to sign an agreement with Tunisia’s national agency for digital certification, Tuntrust. The agreement authorises UIB to issue to its customers electronic certificates that act as digital signatures, providing a digital identity card on the internet.
This will allow the bank to move certain important transactions completely online, including opening a bank account, signing a loan contract or taking out an insurance policy.
This year the bank launched EBanka, a web-based banking channel that it hopes will appeal to younger working people. It says this new digital distribution method will test the appetite of the Tunisian market for digital banking.
In 2019, the bank received an endorsement for the quality of its banking services and the commitment of its teams when it won Tunisia’s first Customer Service of the Year Award. In the same year, UIB increased its Tier 1 capital by 17.5%, its assets by 3.2% and its net profits by 4.6%.
“UIB is accelerating its efforts to adapt its processes, offers and digital solutions to a new and sustainable reality,” says CEO Raoul Labbé de la Genardière. “Our focus is always on customer satisfaction, innovation and support for the transformation of the Tunisian economy.”
Standard Chartered Bank Uganda
Standard Chartered Bank Uganda launched what it calls the “first-of-its-kind” digital bank in Uganda in 2019. It gives customers access to more than 70 self-service requests on their smart phones, making banking accessible and convenient.
The Digital Life account can be opened in 15 minutes, once customers have downloaded the Standard Chartered Mobile app. The bank hopes this will increase financial inclusion among the unbanked, especially the youth. Uganda has the youngest population in Africa and 63% of its youth have mobile phones.
Clients who use the mobile app enjoy zero monthly charges and no ATM fees, and can pay utility bills at their convenience for a minimal fee.
In 2019, after a major enabling technology upgrade, the bank began to extend banking services beyond its conventional branches by implementing agent banking. Ugandan banks are co-operating so that they roll out agent banking in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. Benefits to the bank include increased touch points at low cost and increased digital onboarding. Benefits to the customer are ease of access and flexible banking hours.
It has also, perhaps uniquely, introduced ‘coffee banking’, in partnership with Endiro Coffee, one of Uganda’s premier coffee brands. Clients can now enjoy premium coffee while banking at the bank’s state-of-the-art Speke Road banking hall, situated inside its Kampala headquarters. This is a financial services first in Uganda and has proved highly popular with customers, who have responded “with rave reviews”, reports the bank.
“We will continue to deliver our strategy with heighted discipline,” says the bank’s CEO Albert Saltson. “Innovation is our forte; we will continue leading the way and providing our clients with financial solutions that are cutting edge, cost effective and tailored to meet their needs. Using our digital channels, we will endeavour to reach the unbanked to increase financial inclusion.”
UBA Zambia
In a bid to increase account opening, spread financial literacy and promote a savings culture, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Zambia launched a strategic school savings campaign earlier this year.
Together with the campaign, the bank launched the UBA Kiddies Savings Account, designed to help parents introduce their children to money management at an early stage. The account pays a 5% bonus on the average savings balance, provided that a minimum balance is maintained over 12 months. The account holder also gets discounts in various shops selling children’s items if a UBA card is used.
For grown-ups, UBA Zambia has recently introduced Bumper savings accounts. These are targeted at low and medium earners in the mass market, to allow them to save and manage their money while benefiting from bank services, loyalty rewards and savings interest.
The bank is marketing Bumper accounts on social media, and uses SMS and emails to cross-sell the products. Customers can carry out all their Bumper-related transactions on UBA’s digital platforms.
The most futuristic of those platforms is Leo on WhatsApp, launched at the end of 2019. Leo the virtual banker, or chatbot, lets customers use the social media app to open accounts, send money, buy airtime, reset PINs and check balances.
Through the ‘Each one, teach one’ initiative, UBA Zambia staff members voluntarily create opportunities for young people by teaching them a variety of skills such as foreign languages, painting, music and fashion design. Under the ‘Read Africa’ initiative, aimed at rekindling dwindling reading culture among African youth, UBA Zambia has donated more than 2000 books of African literature to Zambian schools.
“My aspirations are to make UBA Zambia one of the top three banks in the country, by offering exceptional customer service while leveraging our innovative digital channels,” says managing director and CEO, Chinedu Obeta.
Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe
The coronavirus only added to the long list of woes being suffered by Zimbabwe, including shortages of fuel, energy and foreign currency, a rapidly depreciating local currency, declining business confidence, shrinking demand and surging inflation. By implementing its capital preservation strategy, Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe was able to switch vulnerable monetary assets into quality investment properties, hedging against potential losses.
As the investment property values appreciated in local currency terms, the bank enjoyed robust growth in shareholder value and comfortably surpassed the minimum capital threshold set by the central bank. Customers’ need for working capital grew as the currency depreciated, and the bank was able to secure a ZWL500m ($1.4m) productive sector lending facility, which was swiftly disbursed. This bolstered the bank’s performance in an illiquid market, and gave it a competitive edge.
Recognising that digitisation was a key enabler for strategy delivery, Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe has launched SlydePay. SlydePay is a universal payment platform as well as a wallet and caters to the needs of the upwardly mobile, underbanked and unbanked. The solution aggregates existing payment methods Zimswitch, Visa, Mastercard and Mobile Money and creates a standardised payment and collections tool for merchants and agents.
As part of its financial inclusion strategy, the bank has also launched a low-cost know-your-customer (KYC)-lite account called BluEase. Customers can open an account on production of their identity document only. The account has a maximum permissible balance, after which it is migrated to a higher segment account requiring full KYC documentation.
Importantly, the bank proved resilient in the face of Covid-19. “The pandemic disrupted the original flow of business and processes but this also accelerated adoption of digital banking innovations,” says Solomon Nyanhongo, chief finance officer of Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe. “So we were impacted, but we have managed to avert any crisis by adapting to the ‘new normal’ through innovation and the implementation of new ways of doing business.”
