Ecobank Nigeria Expands Agency Banking Locations to 35,000

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

One lender deepening the financial inclusion drive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is no doubt Ecobank Nigeria Limited.

Within three months, the financial institution has expanded its agency banking locations across the nation by 5,000, hitting 35,000 places, according to its Managing Director, Mr Patrick Akinwuntan.

The bank has been able to achieve this feat by putting in place different initiatives, including rewarding its customers and its Xpress Point agents.

“We celebrate our customers for banking with us. They are the reason why we are in business. We are giving them the opportunity to grow their businesses by providing them with convenient banking services.

“We are bringing banking services to every neighbourhood through Xpress points, our agency banking platforms where we presently have close to 35,000 locations across the country. The idea is to support agriculture, real sector activities at the grassroots level.

“We are also supporting family values to promote cohesion and preserve culture. We are supporting our customers to realize their potentials for instance we are reaching out to women through Ellevate, which provides favourable terms for women businesses, and generally, as a pan African bank, we are connecting Africa businesses to the world,” the banker said.

Recently, Ecobank rewarded its customers through the Super Reward Scheme, which is aimed to deepen savings amongst Nigerians, reward and assist customers’ businesses.

Four winners grabbed the star prizes and were N1 million.

The winners were Tsoho Alaye, with an Ecobank Microfinance Special Account representing FCT/Northern Region; Badero Modupe Olufunmilayo, with a Personal Flexi Account, representing Lagos Region; Omiwole Damilare Daniel, with an Ecobank Microfinance Special Account, representing Midwest and South West Region; and Hayford Gogo Lawson, with a Personal Savings Account, representing South-East and South-South.

Mr Akinwuntan, while congratulating the winners as well as the customers who participated in the rewards programme, disclosed that the bank was coming out with several other initiatives such as the Lion’s Den, an SME focused television series to air on DSTV which will afford young entrepreneurs the opportunity to showcase their business potentials that will create new Bill Gates, Dangotes out of Nigeria.

Earlier in her welcome address, Head, Consumer Banking, Mrs Korede Demola-Adeniyi, who congratulated the winners, said the bank initiated the Super Reward Scheme to appreciate its customers, explaining that it was designed in such a way that new and existing customers participated and won cash prizes.

She said, “50 customers with the highest deposit were rewarded with N25,000 every week while four customers with the highest deposit and transaction value within the campaign duration are today going home with N1 million naira each”.

To qualify, according to Mrs Korede Demola-Adeniyi, new customers were expected to open an account with a minimum of N5,000 and maintain the deposit for a 30-day period; the same applied to existing customers, who only needed to fund their active account with a minimum of N5,000 or reactivate their dormant account with a minimum of N5,000 and maintain the deposit for a 30-day period.

She added that at the end of the four months campaign, 800 customers won N25,000 weekly in batches of 50 per week while four millionaires emerged in each of the four delineated regions.

Se enjoined those that are yet to open an account with the bank to do so to enjoy its state-of-the-art digital payments and collections platforms, including its products and services.

One of the winners, Badero Modupe Olufunmilayo, said she was attracted to Ecobank because of its network advantage and excellent service delivery. She promised to be an ambassador of the bank.

On his part, Tsoho Alaye, appreciated the bank’s management for a track record of rewarding customers, affirming that he would continue to do business with the bank and implored every Nigerian who is yet to open an account with the bank to do so to enjoy its seamless service delivery.