Ecobank plans to hit 100 million customers by 2020- MD Patrick Akinwuntan
The Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Patrick Akinwuntan has reaffirmed that his mandate in Nigeria is to grow the Ecobank brand by delivering it as a brand of choice. The bank Managing Director stated that Ecobank service will be available and within the reach of every Nigerian either in their homes or locality through any of the bank’s versatile touch points.
“My mandate in Nigeria is to deliver the brand promise of Ecobank as the platform of choice for convenient, affordable and instant banking services to customers in Nigeria. it’s our ambition that we are within easy reach in your locality at an Ecobank express point through our agents or within your arm’s length on your phone; you can open an account and you can make payment; you can receive payment straight on your phone and at any time cash out through our agent at any Ecobank Xpress point or the ATM. In addition, our multi-featured digital payment solution, EcobankPay – this is our rebrand of the Ecobank Scan+Pay QR offering designed to allow us deliver unified and instant self-service across a range of interconnected payment solutions. This allows our customers to pay in-store via the Ecobank mobile app or *326#. It is the Ecobank everywhere strategy across Africa that we are implementing in Nigeria” he stated.
Further, Mr Akinwuntan who was responding to media questions in Lagos, said Ecobank is a central platform of choice for doing financial transactions across Africa because the bank has more presence in African than any other any other financial institution, whether as a global player or as an African player. In his words
“we have more country presence than any other financial institution across Africa, currently, 36 countries and therefore our central technology platform positions us as the platform of choice and enables us leverage for scale, efficiency, affordability, quality of service across the continent. We are able to relate our common product, common platform, common services, and common set value proposition to our customers. We spent the last 2 years building on our unrivalled platform and laying the foundation that enables us to accelerate to leadership in this market”.
He also added that the bank plans to be a major contributor to the economic development and financial integration of Africa. Its digital solutions: the Ecobank Mobile app, Xpress account offering and online payment platform for corporate customers has helped serve more people and makes the bank on course to reach its goal of reaching 100 million customers by 2020.
A Mckinsey Consulting report earlier this year revealed that Africa’s banking industry is increasingly embracing technological and digital innovations to serve the populace. It categorized Nigeria, albeit with an unbanked population of 37%, as “a fast-growing market.”
