E-Financial
We are Positioning for Digital leadership and Market Dominance – Adekunle Sonola, CEO Polaris Bank
Polaris Bank, Leading digital financial institution, has assured its customers, financial sector stakeholders, and regulators that the Bank passed its road to recovery years back.
Adekunle Sonola, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of the financial institution, stated this in a recent interview, with PROSHAREs team of analysts noting that the Bank is currently on the growth path leading to market dominance.
According to him, careful rethinking and re-strategizing corporate plans creates the bedrock of competitive burst and business sustainability, both attributes that Polaris Bank has focused on in the last few years, working with professional bodies such as PwC, Ernst & Young (E&Y), and KPMG across several corporate verticals.
“The bank has travelled past the recovery road years back; it is currently on the growth road leading to market dominance.
“Adequate capitalization is a key measure of financial health, providing comfort to depositors and affording balance sheet and business growth.
“The bank is presently adequately capitalized, operating well above the 10% minimum requirement for National Banks.
“Nonetheless, we are concluding arrangements to inject Tier II capital into the Balance Sheet to support our growth aspirations. Our shareholders are ready and willing to inject Tier I capital into the books.
“Having instituted best-in-class risk management practices, and maintaining adequate capitalization to support our growth objectives is not one of the bank’s immediate challenges and will not be in the foreseeable future.
“The new owners are committed to providing necessary support towards building a strong and resilient financial position to underwrite transactional activities of the Bank for sustainable value creation,” Sonola assured.
Confirming that the Bank now operates a two-prong ideology of controlling the funding cost and growing earning assets at economic pricing, the Polaris Bank boss noted that earning asset growth is something the Bank is driving at from both the investment and risk asset sides of the business.
“The Bank has consistently been growing its asset base year-on-year (Y-o-Y). The Bank’s recently developed strategic plan will guide the Bank to a position of being a major challenger of Tier 1 banks and be the leader among Tier II banks along all the key performance parameters. Furthermore, the bank’s focus is to be one of the most efficient deposit money institutions in the industry, delivering superior value to its stakeholders, our competition is not of size, but value creation.
“We have revamped our go-to-market structure, broadening our customer base, fine-tuning our product, and supporting service offerings, strengthening personnel sales capacities, and improving our loan onboarding processes. We are very confident our Net interest income and margin will witness considerable growth as our strategies mature.”
Clarifying that cost control is a critical part of the Bank’s tactical and strategic roadmap, Polaris Bank Managing Director said its short-term tactics come from its longer-term strategies, adding that at the tactical level, the Bank is strengthening digital deliveries, and upgrading the capabilities and offerings on Digital Bank, Vulte, for an even more intensive and intuitive experience across customer journeys.
Polaris Bank has also improved its digital play, as reflected in the improvement of technological interfaces that feed into the customer’s journey expectations and experiences.
“We intend to build a dominant digitally led retail franchise and continue to reshape the bank’s business processes and support technology to continuously improve enterprise agility. The key thing is to drive top-notch processes and build agility in customer responsiveness.
“The VULTE product is just one of our service offerings. Indeed, we are creating a digital service reality that is customer service-focused. The technology driving this will scale digital service delivery to enhance our customers’ product or service experiences as we front-load features that fit into their expectations and future possible journey outcomes.
“As financial service platforms get better and continue to be an enabler, a part of the fabric of our modern economy, we will be an integral part of the way people carry out their businesses and we will make their digital journeys an integrated friendly experience. One cannot talk too much about this, but the tea leaves are pointing to a fresh pathway to consumer banking satisfaction.”
Other areas of positive growth in the Bank include the creation of a more powerful customer service experience via improved staff productivity with the best of Polaris Bank staffers driving the process having gone through upskilling and retraining programmes. This ensures we are driving a productivity-sensitive framework that marries staff effort with measurable business contributions.
“We have zeroed in on offering superior customer experience as a competitive tool. The new world of competitiveness requires that corporations are agile and flexible, we are building this into the bank’s operational DNA.
“Our customer journey experiences have been deconstructed across demographics and the service propositions will soon grace banking halls in the next eighteen months at the latest.
“We plan for a stronger balance sheet, with higher loan quality, greater liquidity, larger capital, and resilience to absorb economic shocks. Our loan asset quality has improved significantly, thereby improving liquidity, earnings, and the bank’s capital.
“We are primed to improve our cost-to-income ratio (CIR), Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), and Cost-of-Risk ratio (CoR). In the recent past, we saw bumps in the risk area with CoR higher than we would like, but more recently risk quality has improved leading to lower CoR.”
With a focus on customer-centricity, risk management, cost optimization, and technological advancements, Polaris Bank is seen as positioning itself as a major player in the industry, offering superior customer experiences and driving financial performance.
The Bank has been decorated as Nigeria’s Digital Bank of the Year in two successive years; it aims to position itself as a dominant digitally-led retail franchise, delivering superior value to stakeholders
E-Financial
9PSB Promotes Financial Literacy @ World’s Savings Day 2024
9 Payment Service Bank (9PSB), a leading digital payment service provider committed to advancing financial inclusion in Nigeria, observed World Savings Day 2024 by conducting a financial literacy and mentorship programme for students at Fountain Heights Secondary School in Surulere, Lagos.
This initiative aligns with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive for all financial institutions to implement financial literacy programmes aimed at students, youth, and the public. The goal is to instill a culture of financial discipline, savings, and prudent money management practices among Nigerians.
At the event, Tolani Jemi-Alade, Chief of Business Planning, Operations, and Resources at 9PSB, addressed the students, underscoring the importance of cultivating positive financial habits, particularly considering economic uncertainties. She stressed the need for young individuals to integrate into the formal financial system, stating,
“We encourage every young person with a regular income to open a bank account as an essential step towards financial independence and savings for future needs. Money is necessary for day-to-day transactions and to manage unforeseen circumstances. Early planning is crucial, as these needs are inevitable.”
Tolani further highlighted the significance of World Savings Day, as championed by CBN, which aims to raise awareness of financial literacy and promote a culture of saving, particularly among students and youth. She emphasized the importance of understanding and leveraging formal financial services for long-term financial security.
Oladimeji Saka, Lead for Retail Banking and Customer Acquisition at 9PSB, echoed these sentiments, noting that financial literacy should begin at an early age. He advised that parents play an instrumental role in guiding their children through transitional stages to adulthood, equipping them with the necessary financial knowledge to manage their finances responsibly.
In his remarks, the Vice Principal Academics, Mr. Romanus Emegwakor, who represented the Principal of Fountain Heights Secondary School, expressed his gratitude to 9PSB for their commitment to empowering students with financial knowledge.
“We are extremely appreciative of 9PSB for this invaluable financial literacy programme. It is crucial for our students to understand the significance of financial discipline, and we believe this initiative will help them develop the necessary skills to make informed financial decisions in the future,” he said.
World Savings Day is an annual global campaign dedicated to educating individuals, particularly the youth, on the importance of prudent financial planning and saving through formal banking systems.
E-Financial
Kekere-Ekun, CJN Blames Reliance on Telecom Services for Online Banking Glitches
Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, chief Justice of Nigeria and chairman of the Board of Governors, National Judicial Institute Justice has blamed telecommunications companies for the glitches experienced in the country’s banking sector.
Kekere-Ekun said this in her keynote address at the 2024 National Workshop for Justice and Judges on Legal Issues in Telecommunications with the theme, ‘The Role of the Judiciary in Accelerating Digital Transformation in Nigeria.’
The blame on telcos comes in the wake of multiple glitches in online services. On August 14, 2024, customers reported that the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) website was down, leading to speculation that it had been cloned and customer data intercepted.
The CJN said, “I will like to quickly bring our attention to two issues which I consider to be pivotal and which revolve around cyber security and the attendant challenges of exploring the digital space.
“The first is the increased risk of the personal data of consumers being misused or compromised by unscrupulous persons, thus necessitating the need for improved strategies and innovation for consumer protection in the telecommunications sector.
“Also, worth noting are deficiencies in the Banking Sector and which are attributable to reliance on digital services provided by the Telecommunications Sector. There is for instance the major challenge posed by electronically backed transactions which is commonplace in the Banking Sector.”
The CJN said these glitches have led to several issues including hacking of online banking platforms as well as banks being compromised.
“Concerns in this regard include the spate of customers whose online banking platforms have been hacked, as well as banks being compromised due to technological glitches not factored into their day-to-day operations. Consequently, these and several other challenges have resulted in a number of disputes which frequently require adjudication,” she said.
Kekere-Ekun said the deployment of technology in telecommunications plays a pivotal role in the advancement economic system of any country.
She, however, said there is a need to proffer solutions to legal issues arising from digital services provided by the telecommunications sector.
“It is also my expectation that the forum will equip Judicial Officers with the technical skills required for adjudicating disputes arising from the sector and keep them abreast with global standards and best practices,” she added.
E-Financial
Ecobank Serves Customers Notice of Planned Service Disruption
Ecobank Nigeria has alerted its customers to an upcoming brief service disruption due to scheduled system maintenance on its card services.
The maintenance is set to occur from 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 7, 2024, until 1:00 a.m. on Friday, November 8, 2024.
In a notification to customers, the bank explained that during the maintenance window, cardholders might experience intermittent issues when using Ecobank cards on other banks’ channels.
However, the bank said all its specific channels, including ATMs and POS terminals, will remain operational.
Additionally, other digital platforms—such as the Ecobank Mobile App, USSD *326#, Ecobank Online, Omni Lite, and Omni Plus—will be fully accessible throughout the maintenance period.
The bank expressed apologies for any inconvenience, reaffirming its commitment to providing seamless banking experiences across Africa.
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