First National Bank of Botswana Cell-phone Banking records a milestone

| Thursday December 4, 2008 00:00

'Prepaid airtime still remains the leading driver of transaction volumes on the Cell-phone Banking channel, accounting for more than 80 percent of transactions recorded monthly,' says Yolisa Phillips-Lejowa, Head of Electronic Banking. Prepaid purchases, in particular, remain the most popular on the Cell phone Banking channel, she added. More than P1 million worth of prepaid services were purchased on FNBB's Cell-phone Banking channel during the month of September.

Danny Zandamela, CEO of FNBB said the channel's latest success figures are attributable to its ability to constantly improve accessibility and increase the variety of service offerings to its customers, ensuring relevance and convenience at all times. Research has shown that cell-phones provide the most accessible banking channel across all segments, and the reach is enormous.

When considering the extreme penetration that cell-phones have in our country, cell-phone banking is the obvious step in making banking more accessible. The cell-phone has become an integral part of our lifestyles. The bank hopes to continue this growth, thereby entrenching FNBB's position as the market leader in Cell-phone Banking.

Compared with other industry players in other markets, FNBB's Cell phone Banking channel is clearly a leader, not just offering innovative solutions but also targeting the mainstream market, which is where the bank's development strategy has focused. In line with the Bank's objective of taking banking to the unbanked market, FNBB Cell phone Banking effectively reaches the masses, enabling customers to satisfactorily conclude their banking. Cell-phone Banking has the ability of delivering essential services like prepaid airtime and prepaid electricity to even the most rural doorsteps, as cell phone coverage and penetration is constantly improving in Botswana.

To date, FNBB has concentrated its focus on addressing customers' concerns around simple registration, ease of use, affordable and convenient access to the service and security.

'Through this exercise, we are turning the improved market awareness of Cell- phone Banking into customer behaviour that embraces it as a convenient banking channel. We are already seeing successes with its use,' said Zandamela. Balance enquiries come in second, comprising a quarter of all transactions, however latest figures reveal a constant growth in the usage of the channel for both payments and transfers.

FNBB harnessed the power and functionality of the cell-phones 5 years ago when it introduced inContact, a free message service that sends customers a real time SMS confirming all transactions taking place on their FNBB accounts. This world-first in the banking industry was well adopted by FNBB customers, who quickly saw the benefit of keeping a finger on the pulse with their transactions and the potential for early fraud prevention. Currently in excess of 60,0000 customers receive these SMS notifications.

FNBB Cell-phone Banking has brought new meaning to convenient banking and effective money management, giving people the freedom to bank whenever and wherever they wish.