By Modupe Gbadeyanka
One of the biggest boys in the Nigerian banking industry, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) Plc has announced planning to offer banking services to its customers on the popular free messaging platform, WhatsApp.
A statement issued by the lender and made available to Business Post on Wednesday disclosed that the bank wants to leverage the WhatsApp Business Solution to offer Nigerians an additional channel to connect with the financial institution for enquiries, service requests and access to other basic banking services.
This, the statement, is in line with the bank’s continued efforts to enhance service delivery and offer superior banking experiences to customers.
Over the years, GTBank has been at the forefront of establishing a wide range of value-adding touch-points through which customers can access banking services and interact with the bank on all account-related enquiries at any time of the day.
GTBank was the first financial institution in Nigeria to set up a fully interactive contact centre in 2006 and has, since then, led the finance sector in driving customer interaction across online and social media platforms.
Following the launch of the WhatsApp Business Solution, GTBank is leveraging the platform to bring financial services closer to customers, whilst offering them more channels to bank, make enquiries and have their service requests treated promptly.
Once fully operational, the bank’s WhatsApp service will enable customers chat with GTBank on their mobile phones and request for basic banking services using the advised prompts. All service requests will be treated instantly, depending on the internet connection of the user.
Commenting on the bank’s service channel on WhatsApp, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of GTBank Plc, Mr Segun Agbaje, stated that, “At GTBank, we are passionate about driving constant interaction with our customers to learn more about how we can serve them better as well as to provide them with the financial solutions that can add real value to their lives.
“By leveraging the WhatsApp Business Solution, we are continuing to expand our service channels as part of our commitment to making banking, cheaper, faster and readily accessible to customers wherever and whenever they choose to bank.”
GTBank is regarded by industry watchers as one of the best run African financial institutions across its subsidiary countries and serves as a role model within the financial service industry due to its bias for world class corporate governance standards, excellent service quality and innovation.
The bank has continued to report the best financial ratios for a financial institution in the industry as revealed by its return on equity (ROE) of 35.4 percent and cost to income ratio of 38.1 percent evidencing the efficient management of assets and operational efficiency.
In recognition of its innovation and hard work, the bank received over 20 international awards in 2017.
Dipo Olowookere 
Aduragbemi Omiyale