African banks embracing disruptive technologies a lot quicker—Agbaje, GTB Boss
Managing Director and CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), Mr. Segun Agbaje has revealed the African banking sector is very much ahead in terms of mobile banking because they are smart and quicker in embracing disruptive technologies.
In a recent interview in Lagos, he said “When I look at our mobile technology compared to a lot of developed economies, I think we’re a lot further ahead”.
He averred that “African banks and mainly Nigerian financial institutions embrace new technologies faster, thus making a large proportion of the African population skip whole stages of traditional digital development altogether”.
“From experience, we know that the major reasons for financial exclusion include the lack of physical access to financial institutions, inadequate understanding of financial institutions and their products, general distrust in the system, and the affordability of products as a result of minimum opening balance requirements.
On the growing speed in financial inclusion drive, he said “The world is changing around us and the future of banking is digital. To protect our traditional business and maintain our social relevance, we are incorporating another model, which involves mobile phones, use of data, partnerships and collaborations. Simply put, we are creating a platform to support our traditional business model by leveraging digital solutions.”
Business Hilights recalls that since his assumption of the post of the chief executive in GTBank, several IT driven innovations have changed the banking narrative in the bank.
For example, GTBank’s Bank 737 provides banking services to millions of Nigerian mobile phone owners, and does not require internet access to perform basic banking services. Anyone with a phone registered in Nigeria can open an account, transfer money, buy airtime or check their balance by dialling *737#.
The convenience of Bank 737 lies in the fact that all of its services can be accessed through a customer’s mobile phone, at the dial of *737#. And because stable internet access is still not ubiquitous in Africa, Bank 737, being USSD-powered, side steps the need for an internet connection.
He said “Through this service, which makes banking simpler, cheaper and faster, we continue to pull into the banking stream many of those who have long been excluded from the country’s financial framework”.
“Since its introduction, we have recorded an uptake of over three million customers and over NGN 1trn [$3.1bn] in transactions via the platform.
“The reception of Bank 737 has been phenomenal, with it gaining recognition as Product of the Year in Africa from The Asian Banker and Best Digital Bank in Africa from Euromoney. The bank was also the recipient of six awards at the 2017 Electronic Payment Incentive Scheme Awards, which was organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria in conjunction with the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System to recognise financial institutions, merchants and other stakeholders at the forefront of driving electronic payments in Nigeria.”
On the banks, Pan Africanism, Agbaje said “GTBank is building on its successes both at home and abroad through its ‘Pan-African’ growth strategy. Apart from its home market in Nigeria, the bank enjoys a presence in three countries in east Africa (Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda), five in the west (Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone) and has plans to have another in Tanzania by the end of the year.“Our strategy has always been to go into a country and take the high end of the middle market, and then as we grow, enter into the corporate markets”.
“We are building a high-end type retail business because the middle class is emerging in most countries in Africa, and where you have an emerging middle class, you have a lot of banking opportunities. So far, we have been fairly successful, delivering an ROE after tax of over 25 percent,” the banking wizkid averred.
