Union Bank of Nigeria [UBN] Plc has invested heavily on digital banking channels to provide the banking public with seamless banking facilities in response to challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Chief Brand & Marketing Officer of the bank, Ogochukwu Ekezie-Ekaidem, disclosed this Wednesday at an interactive session with journalists via zoom.
She said the pandemic has forced Nigerians to embrace digital banking and UBN has responded to this demand through extensive investment to expand the channels. In the midst of the pandemic last year, the bank was able to grow customer deposits by N240 billion to N1.1 trillion.
Union Bank is also promising adequate security of its digital banking platforms in the midst of rising cybercrimes. Ekezie-Ekaidem said this is a global problem, which is associated with growing global digitalization but assures that UBN will continually stay ahead of the challenge.
“What we do is to be ahead of the criminals by upgrading our system regularly. If you hear about cybercrime, know that the system was able to detect it due to its efficiency. We will continue to ensure a high level of protection,” she assured.
The bank, under its new leadership of Mr. Emeka Okonkwo, is maintaining its focus on supporting the growth-driving Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs). It is also reinforcing its strategic leaning on retail banking.
Ekezie-Ekaidem said the bank will continue to grow its brand and product offerings by meeting customers’ needs through innovations in retail banking and SMEs’ solutions.
“We are committed to empowering the SMEs segment to enable them access funds and create values. We are trying to make sure we cluster many of them to create value. It is important to note that it is not only loans that they require; they ask for other needs like access to markets, advisory and others”, she said.
Part of the bank’s retail banking drive is its business structuring that has given autonomy to regions. Regional directors have been appointed to oversee their respective regions, which is resulting in increased customer base, according to Ekezie-Ekaidem.
Union Bank’s nationwide campaign that targets N55 million give-away prizes to new and existing customers is aimed at strengthening its retail market focus. For the bank, it is another way of offering Nigerians some reliefs from the economic hardship of the present times.
The promo is scheduled to run from June to December 2021, during which new and existing customers of the bank, who save a minimum of N10,000 monthly will qualify to win cash rewards and other prizes.
As much as 350 customers will win N100,000 each in monthly draws under the promo while six customers will be awarded cash prizes of N1 million each during quarterly draws.
The grand finale will take place in December when a grand prize of N5 million will be won. In addition, 300 customers will win amazing gifts. A total number of 657 customers are expected to emerge winners in the promo.
