Ecobank targets 100 million customers through mobile phones

Beyond its premier banking, Ecobank, has set a target of bringing a minimum of 100 million people into the financial system by the end of 2020, leveraging on mobile phone.

The Group Executive for Consumer Banking, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Patrick Akinwuntan, stated this at the bank’s breakfast meeting held in Lagos.

He noted that the bank had received regulatory approval across 25 countries in Africa to open accounts for Africans on the mobile phones within two to three munities.

“Am glad to update you that since we started this in about a year ago, we have opened more than three million accounts instantly on mobile phones across Africa.

“Over 1 billion Africans keep their cash in their pockets or somewhere under the mat, which doesn’t reflect in the wealth of the nation. So, when you talk of devaluation of currencies, the real value of our continent and that of Nigeria does not reflect in the statistics,” he said.

Akinwuntan maintained that in bringing and taking cash out of the system, monetizing and recording in the financial system, the true wealth of Nigeria is a critical component for preserving wealth for Nigerians.

“The economics of global wealth analysis is defined essentially by the measurement of Gross Domestic Product and when you look at the various continent on the globe, Africa probably has the largest unrecorded wealth in the balance sheet of nations today.

“We are wealthy in values, we are healthy in hard work, we are wealthy in enterprise and we want to also show that wealth in the financial system so that we can bring inflation to single digit and have more access to improving our lives personally through entrepreneurship,” he said.

He reiterated that Ecobank group has launched agency banking across its network.

“We are committed to having about 300,000 agents by the year 2020 and our approach is to make sure that within 100 meters for each adult African, you have the access to cashing your money or to deposit money so that your wealth is recorded in the balance sheet of the country.
 
“In doing this, Africans can negotiate better and become a much wealthier nation. It is in our interest in preservation of wealth, that Nigeria is indeed a wealthy nation and that the wealth is reflected in the lifestyle of every Nigerian.

“This is what we are trying to do in Ecobank. We are the pan African bank and we understand that the future of Africa is in our hands and it’s our duty to bring out the value of this rich continent and that led civilization and today is struggling globally,” Akinwuntan added.