For instance, through relevant technological development,
the average individual has been empowered to shop online and carry out seamless
transaction any time of the day or night from the comfort of his own home or
business place.
To this end, forward thinking companies and financial
institutions with eyes in the future who have been conversant with the new
trend in customer behaviour, have painstakingly designed new products and
services tailor-made to meet the growing needs of customers anytime anywhere.
It is bearing this in mind that Pan-African financial
Institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, changed the face of e-banking in
the African continent for the first time with the introduction of Leo – UBA’s
Chat Banker. The idea of Leo, which was birthed in 2018, was to enable
customers make use of their social media accounts to carry out key banking
transactions with ease.
This is the first time ever that a financial institution in
Africa evolved a one-stop solution to simplify the way customers transact, a
key essential in today’s fast-paced world with demands for quick-time
transactions and response.
With Leo’s help, customers have been able to open new
accounts with ease, receive instant transaction notifications, check their
balances on the go, transfer funds and airtime top up. Cheque confirmation,
bill payments, loan application, account freezing, request for mini statements,
flight bookings, airtime and data purchases, are some other services that the
chat banking BOT has been helping customers to carry out since 2018.
And Leo, the Artificial Intelligent Bot which carries out
seamless conversations with his customers – who he calls his friends by the
way- has achieved this and more in its three-year existence; allowing users to
carry out quick, fast and recurring transaction with ease from their popular
social media accounts such as Facebook and Whatsapp.
No wonder the bank has earned a lot of laurels and accolades
in the last three years confirming Leo’s global acceptance and recognitions, as
pointed out by UBA’s Group Manging Director, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, some of which
are:
‘Africa’s Best Digital Bank of the year’ by Euromoney; The
Most; Innovative Bank of the year’ by International Finance; ‘Best Customer
Engagement Tool’ by Africa Fintech; Pulse magazine rated Leo on WhatsApp as
‘The best WhatsApp Banking App’; ‘The Best Social Banking platform’ in Uganda;
‘Excellence in Automated Chatbot Initiative’ by Finnovex Awards; ‘Next
Generation Class of 2019’ by CIBN; ‘Best Automated Chatbot Initiative,
Application or Programme’ by The Asian Banker. The list is endless.
“The formulation of this product, is consistent with UBA’s
Customer 1st philosophy, where we have been doing things not the way we like,
but focusing on what the customers want, where they want it, and in the exact
platform they want it; Uzoka explained. “At UBA, we have been continuously
working with technology giants that have the global capacity to ensure not only
seamless but also effortless banking for the millions of our customers across
Africa; as all the bank’s subsidiaries in Africa have activated Leo to perform
financial services for customers.
Continuing, he said, “Since 2018, Leo has been helping with
most transactions and to deliver any form of banking services. And this has
been highlighted more especially during the lockdown occasioned by the COvid-19
virus, as Leo assisted all its users on all major social media platforms to
carry out all their banking activities without having to physically visit a
branch. This, to us, remains an admirable feat because with Leo, the banking
needs of our customers have become easy and simple – as simple as chatting”;
Uzoka pointed out.
Within three years of operations, UBA’s Leo has recorded a
number of milestones including opened a total of 390,756 accounts; achieving
2,169,384 subscribers; conducting a total of 9,605,703 transaction count worth
a value of N81,530,918,868. Leo which has over 2.1m unique users has also
generated over 20 million conversations and over 85 million engagements; with
such impressive feedback and usage and remains the only AI BoT showcased at the
F8 in Mark’s Zuckerberg’s opening remarks.
UBA’s Group Head, Digital Banking, Sampson Aneke, reiterated
that Leo is not just a chat machine, but an artificial intelligence personality
meant to address any type of banking concerns raised by customers.
“Leo has been operating a secure lifestyle banking platform
on Facebook messenger, WhatsApp and IOS and Andriod to assist customers with
their transactions while chatting with your friends and business partners. The
security with this platform has been that for every transaction, a One Time
Password (OTP) is generated to the phone number that is registered on your
account,” he explained, and added that the bank is working tirelessly to
improve LEO’s services to the customers in the coming weeks.
United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading Pan-African
financial institution, offering banking services to more than twenty-one
million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer touch
points, in 20 African countries. With presence in the United States of America,
the United Kingdom and France, UBA is connecting people and businesses across
Africa through retail; commercial and corporate banking; innovative
cross-border payments and remittances; trade finance and ancillary banking
services.
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