Ecobank sets sights on 90m new customers in three years

Pan-African group, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), said it planned to increase its customer base to 100 million by 2020, from 10 million now, using technology.

Lenders in Sub-Saharan Africa, where studies show about a third of people have accounts, have been using mobile and Internet banking to recruit new customers, cut operating costs and create new income sources.

The Group Chief Executive Officer, Ade Ayeyemi, while speaking at the launch of a new mobile banking application in Kenya, said technology would help the group reach more users in 33 African nations where it currently operates.

“Without technology we cannot go anywhere,” he said, adding that the application will let users move funds and buy goods across its markets, helping to boost trade in Africa and creating more of a single market on the continent, the CEO of the Togo-based institution said.

Ayeyemi said the Ecobank mobile banking platform would first focus on customer transactions and boost savings, before offering loans. “You don’t lend to people until they know the art of savings,” he added.