Giving value to customers

ECOBANK Plc has been in the forefront of leading a quiet revolution in financial system Payment services across Africa supporting economic growth and financial inclusion across the continent.

In 2004, the pan African financial institution was the first to issue an international card in Nigeria, the first time an automated teller machine (ATM) in Nigeria could pay money on an international card.

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Now, with the desire to help customers effect safe and secure payment with the speed of light, the deposit money bank is unleashing a wide range of innovative technology platforms in the provision of financial services in Nigeria and across Africa, these multiple innovative products include the Ecobankpay, Ecobank Xpress Point, Ecobank Mobile, and Ecobank Value card which are all intended to drive customer satisfaction and experience in payment services across Africa.

With the combination of Ecobank Pay, Ecobank Mobile, our POS, Ecobank Xpress Points, our ATMs, Ecobank Omni, Ecobank Omni Lite for internet bank payment platforms for both corporates and small businesses, and our Ecobank online which is our Internet bank for individuals, are all meant to facilitate easy payment and ease collections in an affordable, convenient and instant manner.

These we will be bringing relentlessly to every household (Nigeria has about 190million people) the ability to make financial transactions easy, affordable, sustainable, and reliable is critical to energising the economy. And this is in line with the vision of our founders to bring world class banking to every African to enable every African participate effectively in the economy.”

EcobankPay is an innovative payment solution that enables customers to scan and pay with their mobile phone or by using the *326# code to get into USSD platform and make payment seamlessly.

The benefits of this product to include instant transfer of funds without any chances of repudiation by the creditor thereby boost the business of the vending partner. He explained that the EcobankPay is affordable and almost risk-free, as you can have 100 QR codes at no additional cost. Also, you don’t have to protect the code as it cannot remove money from your account because it can only receive money into your account.

How Ecobank led digital technology payment

If you came into Nigeria in 2002 with a Visa card, no ATMs in Nigeria accepted a Visa card. No ATMs accepted a MasterCard. None accepted any of the international card brands and as an individual in Nigeria you could not apply for these cards. Once you put your Nigerian address, they tell you this service is not available in Nigeria. That, for us in Ecobank, was not acceptable. So, we took the bold step of going to MasterCard and Visa and said why don’t you allow us issue a MasterCard or Visa Card in Nigeria? The CBN was quite proactive. They embraced this push and invited MasterCard to do “a contest.” Invite all those banks in Nigeria who wish to offer MasterCard to Nigerians, let’s see who and who are ready. That discussion sparked off some other ones that led to the coming of Visa and MasterCard to Nigeria. The outcome of that was that Ecobank Nigeria was the first banking institution to issue an international card in Nigeria in 2004.

The digital edge with EcobankPay platform

We have introduced Ecobank Pay which is QR payment solution which enables you to scan and pay with you’re a mobile phone. If you have a feature phone, you can use *326# to get onto our USSD platform and make payments seamlessly.

The traditional way payments are made using cards on POS means that  the merchant, small business person, the trader, the super market, the distributor, that entity that is holding a POS needs to wait for at least one day to get the value of the payment.

The second reality is that because the payment is made using the card of the customer on a device of the merchant, international payment rules allow the customer who is making the payment to repudiate if he or she finds a debit he does not agree with. This is because, you are putting your card on the gadget of the merchant, and you really don’t have control if any other payment has gone through your card.

So, the first advantage is that rather than the merchant waiting for one day to receive payment, he receives the funds instantly. This is very import for working capital particularly for small businesses.

Finally, the merchant is assured that all the payments received were not with the risk that somebody may repudiate after one month. It is not such that after one month, you get a claim that somebody is contesting the payment. In the Ecobank Pay platform, there is no opportunity for such repudiation.

So, these factors make it much more convenient, particularly, for our teaming SMEs. As you know, we have millions and millions of SMEs across the country who are not able to afford a POS machine. POS machine costs close to $500. Secondly, you need it electricity to keep it running. You need paper for you to be there. If you are a hair dresser, and you three or four apprentices working with you or people who you engage to do the service, you need somebody who will be monitoring the POS for you.

For us at Ecobank, we have the ability to provide Ecobank Pay on Master Cards, Mvisa, and Mcash. All the three QR Code platforms available in the country, we have brought them together, make it intra-operable, intra-operable on Ecobank Pay. Therefore, for you as the merchant or the customer, it doesn’t matter which QR Code is used for the payment, it doesn’t matter which one you want to accept with. On the Ecobank Pay, we accept all, we make payments with all.

On single Customer ID and single Merchant ID, you don’t require different numbers, just one number and you are good to go. This for us is critical in bringing more digitalization in the economy to enable small unit businesses to participate more effectively in the economy to enable us grant credit faster, enables people to save faster, reduces the risk of security in terms of exposure to cash or exposure to somebody who is pilfering your credentials. For us, we will be bringing the message of Ecobank Pay to every household, every business area, to markets. We have started but we will be bringing it to every household.

Bringing multiple countries payment system on one App

Ecobank Nigeria is the first bank in Nigeria to deploy QR Code Payment technology in Nigeria. In fact, because we have a common platform across the group, each of these services that I have talked of is available immediately in all the countries that Ecobank is present.

So, it is not just a deployment in Nigeria, it is a deployment across Africa. When you talk of any of the services we deploy on digital platform, because of the pan African nature of Ecobank, if you take your Ecobank Pay card and put in ATM in Sierra Leone, or an ATM in Ghana of Ecobank, subject to the monetary limits of the regulators in each country, your Ecobank card will work because we have a common platform that connects the continent on our mobile apps. All the countries in which we are present are available on one app. It is not one app for Ghana, one app for Nigeria, and another for South Africa, no. We have one Ecobank mobile app, and you access to all the countries.

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