ECOBANK DEFIES COVID-19 WITH ITS INNOVATIVE BANKING SERVICES
The Ecobank Group has been at the forefront of supporting businesses and communities in the face of Covid-19. Adenike Laoye, Ecobank’s Group Head, Corporate Communications, describes how its innovative services have ensured continuity of business for cust
There’s no single time that the global economy has taken a bigger beating than 2020. With the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic in Africa, African economies had to grapple with a health crisis of potential ignominious proportions given the continent’s ill-preparedness and poor health infrastructure. In fact, doom and disaster was predicted for the continent.
Contrary to expectations, Africa has fared better than expected especially on the rate of virus infections and fatalities vis-a-vis what was projected. The necessary containment measures including lockdowns and curfews across the continent have however led to severe social and economic impact.
The full impact of the virus on African economies remains to be seen even though lockdowns have now been mostly lifted. However, it is evident that African businesses and populations are struggling with production, supply chain disruptions, access to markets and services. This calls for collaboration between African governments, private sector and other players aimed at striking a healthy balance between saving lives and livelihoods.
With supply chain disruption in some of Africa’s key source markets, many businesses across the continent were starved of supplies leading in some cases to permanent closure, loss of jobs and, of course, livelihoods.
For instance, in the first three months of 2020, trade between China and Africa plummeted by around 14%, representing an estimated $41bn compared to the same period in 2019. This is according to official figures released by China’s General Administration of Customs. Sectors worst affected included oil, commodity exports, aviation, tourism, leisure and retail.
Africa’s 90m small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and gig economy are largely affected by the economic impact of the pandemic, given that 96% of the MSMEs are micro enterprises.
Weathering the storm
The Ecobank Group has been at the forefront of supporting its customers, businesses and communities all across Africa to weather the Covid-19 storm.
Ecobank’s digital platforms made it easy for customers to safely carry out their banking transactions from their homes. The Bank recognises that a number of Africans may not have access to the digital platforms and may still have to visit a physical location to access bank services.
This is why it continues to scale up its agency banking – growing its Xpress Point agents to over 50,000 locations across Africa and taking banking services closer to people with many working from home.In a bid to ensure SMEs access opportunities derived from the vast online market, the Bank has partnered with global tech giants such as Google to digitise SMEs across Africa, equipping them with tools that enhance their digital presence and visibility as well as improve their access to export markets.
In addition to this, there has been significant focus on empowerment of MSMEs in Africa through partnership with AUDA-NEPAD’s “100,000 MSMEs by 2021” programme, to support Africa’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprises with technical knowledge, mentoring, knowledge sharing and financial support, to help MSME’s survive the pandemic, become more resilient, improve market access while gearing up to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) agreement.
The private sector and specifically MSMEs are the engine for employment and growth throughout Africa. For the women-focused and owned businesses, the challenge has always been how to access financing to grow their businesses. Driven by the desire to change the fortunes of women enterprises and women focused businesses, the Ecobank Group just launched “Ellevate,” a women business focused programme aimed at empowering women businesses with capacity, market access and financing.
Other deliberate efforts employed by the Bank in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic include restructuring of loans for its customers to ensure survival of businesses as well as donation of about $3m across the continent to help fight the Coronavirus.
Innovation
Innovation has always been the bloodline by which Ecobank runs. With its onebank business model, in multiple languages, different jurisdictions, multiple currencies and legal framework, creativity and resilience are key.
This year, like the years before, the Ecobank Group has been recognised with various awards – affirming its commitment of winning as one. Its steadfast journey of digitisation, innovation and a clear understanding and willingness to transform the financial landscape across Africa has in a big way contributed to this recognition.
One such award is the “Bank of the Year for the Africa region” by The Banker, followed by similar country awards in Gabon, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Togo.
The journey to financial inclusion that has seen the Togo-headquartered Banking group release ground-breaking digital products in Africa saw Ecobank scoop the Pan-African award for Financial Inclusion from EMEA Finance, in addition to being named its Best Bank in 2020 in Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Chad, Gabon, The Gambia, Guinea, Liberia and Mali.
– Group CEO Ade Ayeyemi
Ecobank’s focus on financial inclusion leverages the ubiquity of mobile devices to bring financial services to the unbanked and underbanked across Africa. For instance, the Bank’s Xpress Accounts enable the previously unbanked to open bank accounts from any type of mobile phone across Africa with very minimal documentation.
Upon approval by local regulators in each market, the Bank rolled out the product to consumers, leveraging direct sales agents and Xpress Points in the neighbourhoods where they live or work. The Bank is also providing micro credit in various markets across Africa in a bid to ensure access to Xpress loans – small loans through their phones to facilitate businesses and everyday needs.
Recently, the Bank upgraded its corporate electronic banking platforms OmniLite and OmniPlus which are designed to help customers manage their accounts online in a secure, flexible, efficient and convenient manner. This upgrade together with other improvements earned Ecobank Group the 2020 Aite Group’s Impact Innovation Award in Cash management and Payments for operational efficiency (for innovation achieved by financial institutions leveraging technology to set a higher standard.)
Continuity of service
The Group CEO of the Ecobank Group, Ade Ayeyemi, avers that the group’s one bank model has been successful in meeting the demand for financial services by various customer segments in Africa who put their trust in Ecobank across the 33 country footprint.
In 2020, the pan-African bank won awards for the Most Innovative Bank in Africa from Global Finance, Africa’s Best Bank for Corporate Responsibility from Euromoney and Innovation in Financial Services Award from African Banker among others.
Ayeyemi says the Banking group’s digital platforms have enabled it to provide continuity of service with the pandemic. He says: “We have actively onboarded more than 520,000 new customers and strengthened our Contact Centres during this period to be able to provide remote service to our clientele.”
He reiterates that his Bank’s philosophy is that consumer financial services should always be accessible, convenient and affordable to every African, hence its broadening of mobile banking offerings and enrichment of customer experience to make its digital banking solutions the most dependable for Africans seeking payment, collection, deposit and loan products.
“Our model is scalable and easily replicable across our 33 African countries subject to local regulations. These awards motivate us to continue to build back better as we aim to help with the economic and social development of our continent,” he concluded.
“Our model is scalable and easily replicable across our 33 African countries subject to local regulations. These awards motivate us to continue to build back better as we aim to help with the economic and social development of our continent.”