By Dipo Olowookere
The management of Ecobank Nigeria Limited is planning to design a fully digitized loan platform aimed to allow its customers to have easy access to credit facilities.
This was confirmed by the outgoing Managing Director of the financial institution, Mr Patrick Akinwuntan, while commenting on the award won by the bank at the Middle East & Africa (MEA) Retail Banking Innovation Awards organized by Digital Bankers.
Mr Akinwuntan stated that this loan platform and the expansion of its agency banking network are a few of the key mandates the organisation intends to fulfil in the nearest future.
Ecobank was recently announced as the winner of the Consumer Finance Product of the Year award for “setting new milestones in service delivery, digital innovation, product development, payments, technology, customer experience and more,” according to the MD of Digital Bankers, Mr Nirav Patel.
According to him, the award committee observed the disruption of the global financial system with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and how Ecobank deployed its digital offerings to serve its customers.
In his reaction, Mr Akinwuntan described the award as a worthy recognition of Ecobank’s digital transformation landmark initiatives, stating that the bank’s digital payment and collections platforms have brought convenience to the daily running of customers’ businesses.
He noted that with its digital offerings, Ecobank was able to serve its customers without interruption during the COVID-19 nationwide shutdown.
The banker listed some of the digital platforms as Ecobank Mobile App and USSD *326#, Ecobank Online, Ecobank OmniPlus, Ecobank Omnilite, EcobankPay, Ecobank RapidTransfer, ATMs, POSs, as well as an extensive distribution network of over 250 branches and about 40,000 agency banking locations.
“As a fast-paced bank, we are constantly innovating our processes to ensure customers’ ever-changing needs are met as well as achieve our corporate objectives.
“Some of the key mandates we will be fulfilling in the nearest future include having a fully digitized loan platform to ease accessibility and use of our products.
“We will also be enlarging our agency banking network to reach the unbanked and underbanked in Nigeria. We are delighted to receive this prestigious award. It is a testimonial to the hard work we have done in line with our digital transformation and innovative products and service,” Mr Akinwuntan stated.
Ecobank Nigeria Limited is a subsidiary of the Ecobank Group, the leading pan-African banking group with operations in 33 African countries and an international presence in four locations (London, Paris, Beijing, and Dubai).
The lender is a full-service bank providing wholesale, retail, investment and transaction banking services and products to governments, financial institutions, multinationals, international organizations, medium, small, and micro businesses, and individuals.
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