What VULTE Digital Banking Solution Means For Customers

Theworld

of financial services has not been the same since October 1994, when Stanford Federal Credit Union in the United States of America became the first institution to let its customers access banking functions via the new internet. It seemed like a long way from then, but the world of financial services has continued to revolutionise expeditiously, offering customers increased convenience, self- service and several other values that the world of Digital Banking has come to represent.

In an April 2021 article published by Forbes under the title, What is Digital Banking, Daphne Foreman and her co- author, E. Napoletano did surmarise the edge Digital Banking has in these words: “Thanks to the power of digital banking, many consumers have never set foot inside a brick- and- mortar bank. From the ability to access everyday banking functions via a computer or mobile device to empowering cashless transactions at a wide swath of stores, it would appear that digital banking isn’t just the future. It’s now.”

The recent launch of VULTE, a new Digital Banking platform by Nigeria’s Polaris Bank, and the conversation it has generated shows that, as Foreman noted, Digital Banking’s future is already here. VULTE, as a new entrant in the growing community of Digital Banking solutions in Nigeria, has been created as convenient, easy and quick self- service digital solution from to enable access to banking services via mobile devices or on desktops. Happening immediately following the announcement of an impressive full year customer deposits growth margin of N56billion, it would seem the launch of VULTE was designed for a singular purpose – to spike shareholder value though the time- honored route of enhanced consumer experience.

VULTE is a high voltage solution designed to enable customers consummate every banking transaction, from account opening, through requesting for certain categories of loans, to generating bank statements. It does a bit more. According to Dele Adeyinka, Chief Digital Officer ( CDO) of the bank, VULTE also connects the customer to discover lifestyle trends and social events.

“VULTE is an all- in- one solution that created to offer the most convenience for our customers. It was built to understand the needs of the customer and provides solutions to everyday challenges of accessing financial services solutions. For instance, in this platform, we have ensured that customers with multiple accounts can complete all their transactions though a single window of a digitally consolidated customer information file. This totally eliminated the need for multiple Apps and platforms for customers,” Adeyinka stated.

He added that customers who were hitherto locked in a daily transaction limits are allowed to seamlessly increase this to a high of N5 million without having to visit their banks for forms and concurrence.

“VULTE was built with enhanced security. Our customers have the option of securing their accounts through the added means of biometric validation that ensures no other person can remotely compromise their accounts,” the CDO said.

Since birth birth on September 24 2018, Polaris Bank has not had an event as big as the one it organised to launch VULTE into the market. It was an A- list event, complete with all the trappings that attract the young, enterprising, self- driven and upwardly mobile executives. This, for many watchers, speaks of where the bank seems to be headed in the future. As banking transactions continue to go off the traditional, brick and mortar channels to the more convenient online solutions, futureforward banks have been taking positions.

Nigerians are quick technology adopters and have gathered in the digital ecosystem, beckoning on financial services providers to pitch value- adding solutions. As early as 2016, a KPMG report stated that 47 percent of Nigerians have adopted one form of online banking solution or the other. Although the KPMG reports suggested this was a small percentage, considering the depth of broadband penetration in the country, this represents a significant number in 2016 and would have significantly improved ever since.

For instance, in 2020, Nigeria recorded $ 428 billion worth of etransactions, 42 per cent higher than in 2019. Happening in a year of COVID- 19- induced business meltdown, one can only imagine what the numbers would have been had the year not been encumbered by the debilitating pandemic.

This is clearly what Polaris Bank is positioning to profit from. At the launch event, Chairman of the bank, Muhammad K. Ahmad, pointed to the importance of the new platform to the future of banking in Nigeria, pointing to the strategic positioning of Polaris to offer cutting edge solutions that meet the need and expectations of customers.

This, according to him, informed the creation of as a platform for customers and non- customers of the bank.

Creating a digital banking solution that supports non- customers is unique, new and strategic. On the one hand, it supports customers in managing multiple account relationships, including those in other banks. On the other, it enables the bank register presence in the minds of customers of other banks using the solution. This is strong marketing driven by value.

By placing itself as a gateway in the relationship between its customers and those of other banks and by being a vehicle which customers of other banks explore in consummating their transactions, VULTE is primed to position Polaris bank as a value- adding enabler of business, commerce and relationships.

This may have been why the bank’s Chairman described VULTE as, “a milestone in our pursuit of a strong and digitally- led retail brand.”

Said Ahmad: “When we started the Polaris journey almost three years ago, we were very clear on the type of Bank we must build and the direction we must go. This was largely informed by the fast pace of change in financial service provisioning and the apparent technology- defined outlook of our business. VULTE is not just another mobile App, but one with a world of difference, a mobile digital bank. This is your Bank in your hand, affording you total Control of your financial service needs.”