By Opeyemi Dabiri

On October 4, 2021, one of the fastest-growing financial service providers in Nigeria, Titan Trust Bank Limited, celebrated two years of its existence.

Established with a mission to take advantage of the identified gaps in the banking sector and address the unmet needs of the retail mass market, SMEs and corporates, Titan Trust Bank, has continued to provide seamless banking experience, accurate and relevant information to its customers.

The management team led by seasoned bankers, Mudassir Amray, the group managing director/CEO, and Adaeze Udensi, PhD, executive director, in the last two years, has been able to position the bank on an upward trajectory with many unprecedented innovations.

With management focused on innovation and a unique philosophy to create, preserve and satisfy its customers, Titan Trust Bank found itself in a fiercely competitive banking environment but it remained guided by passion, resilience, innovation and brand architecture that exuded quality service, performance and sheer excellence.

The lender has found its feet quickly on the floor of the Nigerian banking sector and recorded one of the highest increases in the number of customers. It remains committed to its customers and continues to search for new heights to attain in the Nigerian banking sector and that is why the bank is considered the fastest growing bank in Nigeria.

The Titan Trust Bank story is increasingly becoming a case study in corporate governance, leadership, vision and excellence.

Amid the bank’s audacity to dare and succeed, industry watchers have continued to marvel at the amazing rise of the lender since its inception and ask: how are they doing it? The answers may not be far from the fact that at the inception of the bank’s operations in October 2019, the management team drew up a holistic and integrated approach to business modernization, which has formed the foundation for the bank’s superior customer-centric experience.

The bank has continued to deliver exceptional banking services by making financial services easy and accessible to its teeming customers.

In its determination to take financial services to every household in order to drive effective inclusion and participation in the recovery and growth of Nigeria’s economy, Titan Trust Bank has invested substantially in technology and developed fully integrated service models that enable its customers to enjoy banking services through a wide range of channels.. The bank believes in innovation, creativity and the use of technology to enhance the lives of its customers while it also strives to ensure that its products and services are meeting the changing needs of its customers.

Recently, the lender launched and deployed the latest version of Oracle’s FCCM module, powering our AML/CFT infrastructure, used in over 120+ sites by top global banks. It has also invested in top-notch infrastructure for AML/KYC, as well as the Oracle Financial Services Analytical Application (OFSAA) to ensure rigorous analysis and measurement of its risk-performance objectives.

The bank’s digital platforms which include: the Titan Mobile Application, Titan Internet Banking platform and the Titan *922# Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) solution, are seamless, fast, reliable and easy to use. Aside from the regular features, its state-of-the-art mobile banking application – the TITAN mobile app has been upgraded with new features such as the generation of referral codes whilst opening accounts, transaction status information, receipt generation for previous transactions, as well as being able to carry out traditional mobile banking services.

In furtherance of its efforts to offer customers an endearing experience by extending its reach and offer seamless banking services across the country, the bank has also opened two more branches in strategic locations in Lagos with a skilled and professional relationship team dedicated to satisfying the banking needs of the people.

The two state-of-the-art branches located at 53, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos and 17, Burma Road, Apapa, Lagos, according to the bank, are in line with its quest to provide financial service to micro, small and medium scale enterprises within Lagos State. The new branches provide a full suite of banking products and services for retail and corporate banking clients.

In his comment at the launch of one of the new branches, Mr Amray, the bank’s CEO, noted that the launch represents a translation into the concrete reality of “our determination to live by our mission and keeping to our service promise to provide simple, reliable, and quick banking solutions to all our customers.”

The federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also announced the appointment of the lender as one of the designated banks for the collection of the Nigeria export Supervision Scheme (NESS) levy, a feat industry watchers applauded as a strategic move. NESS levy is a statutory payment to the federal government, which is charged at 0.50 per cent of the export value. The apex bank collects the fees through designated banks on behalf of FG.

As part of its initiative to continuously support entrepreneurs in the country by providing financial and advisory services for the growth of their businesses, Titan Trust Bank in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), launched an online platform to empower business owners with the knowledge to manage and grow their businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the first edition of the programme held on the 18th of February 2020, participants gave positive testimonials on how relevant and rewarding they found the training.

During the training, participants numbering over 200 were taken through series of webinars by business and digital experts on how to use social media and online tools to transform businesses from the traditional space to an online digital marketplace, how to set up an online business, identifying the best ways to make product offerings available online and finding target market.

On its staff welfare, the bank has placed a premium on improving workplace culture towards making its employees happy and productive. In the past two years, the bank has launched several internal initiatives to enhance staff welfare to keep staff engaged together with an open-door approach to have every voice heard.

The bank understands that employees are the engine room required in making any organization work and if they are not treated right it is to the disadvantage of all. It believes that when its employees are treated right, they will always be in their best shape to keep delivering a superior customer experience.

Undoubtedly, the bank’s achievements in the last two years have not gone unnoticed even on the international stage.

The lender recently bagged two awards as the ‘Best New Commercial Banking Brand’ and ‘Fastest Growing Digital Banking Brand in Nigeria for the Year 2021’ at the 2021 annual United Kingdom-based Global Brands Magazine Awards. The bank clinched the coveted influential awards in less than two years of its commercial operations.

The bank also emerged ‘Best Trade Finance Provider in Nigeria for the year 2020’ by Global Finance Magazine World’s Best Trade Finance Providers Awards. The lender clinched the coveted influential international award previously won by only the first-tier banks in Nigeria in just 15 months of its commercial operations.

Going by the speed with which the bank is moving towards the top, one expects that in the next year it will become one of the most talked-about financial institutions in terms of delivery and impact on its customers.

Opeyemi Dabiri, a financial analyst, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.