Banking is gradually moving away from the banking halls. It is no longer where a bank operates from that matters, but what it does. United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has in the last three years won the hearts of its customers with its artificial intelligence chatbot, LEO.
LEO has proven to be the most formidable artificial intelligence chat bot till date, serving an ever-increasing clientele who now have less transaction hassles to worry about. The bank’s investment in technology has led to better performance and profitability.
Banking is getting more interesting by the day. Mobile banking, one of the digital banking routes the the world is traveling to create more value for their customers is at the centre of making banking fast and more efficient.
For Nigeria, it is the long road to financial inclusion and freedom of getting transactions done at the lowest possible cost and at the speed of light. Hence, banks with eyes on the future are developing new products and services that are defining the sector’s successes and reach.
Banks that play effectively and seamlessly on the digital space are getting recognitions. The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc had three years ago, revolutionlised e-banking space with the introduction of Leo, a chatbot banking personality on social media platforms.
Group Managing Director/CEO UBA Plc, Kennedy Uzoka, who unveiled Leo in Lagos, described it as a solution developed with people’s lifestyles in mind. He described Leo as the UBA Chat Banker who enables customers make use of their social media accounts to carry out key banking transactions.
UBA’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, UBA, Kennedy Uzoka, affirmed that UBA customers indeed agree that LEO is one of the bank’s biggest investments in cutting-edge technology and has been steadily changing the face of banking in the continent.
“UBA’s vision has always been and will remain a dominating force in Africa’s digital banking space. Our resolve is to provide unparalleled experience across all channels. We are a technology-driven institution with vast knowledge in the business that we do and LEO, being a tested, dependable and intelligent personality, replicated on WhatsApp the success it recorded on the Facebook Messenger platform where it started its journey and later on the IOS (iPhone Operating System) platform.”
“It is a solution that is from the customer’s standpoint, easy to use by anyone regardless of demography. LEO is always ready and waiting to help with any form of banking service,” Uzoka said.
“As an app that has been in existence for over nine years, reaching more than 1.5 billion people in over 180 countries, WhatsApp has become very essential in lifestyle and that is why UBA saw the need to include LEO’s services in that very important app and the premium private chat platform has assured that there will be no spam messages, as the development is to enable businesses serve their customers with useful information,” the GMD stated.
Uzoka explained that LEO is already present in over 20 African countries and in three languages and has a number of rich and robust features bound to mesmerise existing and potential customers with services that are extremely fast and secure as all transactions and enquiries are encrypted, end-to-end.
LEO has the ability to do a wide range of things, including funds transfer, call card top-up, checking of account balance, retrieval of bank statements, instant account openings for new customers, statement to embassy/other banks/microfinance, purchase of airtime/ data, paying of bills (LCC, PHCN, Cable TV), effectively helping with savings and spend limit.
Leo is an AI chatbot for banking services currently available on Face-book Messenger, WhatsApp, Apple Device and is set to launch soon on other social media platforms.
Birthed January 11, 2018, with a firm resolve to prioritise its customers as well as put the bank at the heart of disruptive technologies that will transform the experience of esteemed customers, UBA did just that with a million users becoming hooked in less than three months of its LEO’s inception.
Three years later, and with over three million customers and counting, UBA’s LEO, has without doubt, remained the smartest Banking Chatbot in Nigeria because of its speed and quick learning intelligence and has continued to evolve with plenty to offer its teeming customers.
While other financial institutions are still trying to figure to find their feet as regards AI, UBA’s LEO has become a massive success as the AI continues to consolidate on it successes and accolades winning several awards overtime.
The chat bot continues to enjoy periodic and systematic upgrade with special emphasis on enhanced advancements and specialised unique features which have clearly earned the chatbot over 3 million Users.
The AI chatbot also boosts of remarkable innovative features that allows customers make banking Services – Request/stop/confirm Cheques, Block card, Log & track complaints, ATM/Branch Locator, Freeze accounts, and check weather etc. Other features include Customer Care complaint resolution, linking of new account, flight Payment, linking and Funding of Prepaid Card, Travel Notification, Wakanow services and Dubai Visa service.
The GMD pointed out that, customers who have engaged with LEO are more than delighted about their experience and credit it for automatically extracting account details without hassles, adding that “Testimonies abound about how it is generally easier to use LEO compared to its counterparts. For example, LEO automatically detects account numbers via a customer’s WhatsApp mobile number and goes ahead to seamlessly help customers check their account balance as well as top-up airtime”.
Reviews from customers note that LEO is more personable, more humane, and it feels like talking to an experienced customer service/Fulfilment representative. The Bot also allows customers to easily lodge and process complaints with adequate and timely feedback.
UBA offers banking services to more than twenty-five million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer touch points, in 20 African countries. With presence in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France, UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail; commercial and corporate banking; innovative cross-border payments and remittances; trade finance and ancillary banking services.
Aside Leo launch, a social media report by Alder Consulting ranked the bank among the top three, in effective use of social media in Nigeria. The UBA is active on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and Google plus and runs a corporate blog. With a large customer base, the bank has invested heavily in building a robust and secure e-Banking platform that supports its e-banking operations globally through strategic partnerships with various local and international organisations.
Also, the bank’s customers can also receive transaction alerts on their twitter handles as direct messages. It is an innovative first from the pan-African bank and currently the only bank in Africa to offer this service.
“What we have done is take social media banking to a new level. Twitter is increasingly becoming a popular means of communication especially among the young adults. As a highly innovative bank, we are giving the Millennials, who are increasingly banking with us an option to get transaction alerts on their preferred platform,” the bank said.
Profitability soars
United Bank for Africa (UBA) gross earnings stood at N316 billion during the period under review. The gross earnings was a significant increase from N300.6 billion it achieved in the first half of 2020. Its assets growth was also significant, from N7.7 trillion to N8.3 trillion.
UBA recorded a much lower loan impairment going from N7.8 billion last year to N4.1 billion in the period under review. Deposits by customers crossed the N6 trillion mark as well, growing by 7.4 per cent to N6.1 trillion in the period under review, compared to N5.7 trillion as of December 2020.
UBA also recorded significant growth in its net commissions and fees income growing from N38.5 billion to N45.7 billion.
Mobile App inaugurated
UBA, which has invested heavily in technology, recently launched a new mobile app, all improving its profitability.
The move is also in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele’s directive to banks to provide seamless and secured banking services.
The new UBA Mobile banking app was equipped with benefits and features that give customers increased control and accessibility to carry out transactions with ease.
UBA’s Group Head, Digital Banking, Kayode Ishola, said the app was tailor-made to give customers what they want, how and in the way they want it.
Reeling off some of the features and benefits of the app, he said a lot of investment in cutting edge technology and attention to details was put into the new UBA mobile app.
Ishola said: “The new UBA Mobile App is your personal finance manager built with a distinctive user interface that will change the face of banking. With this app, we are reimagining banking as our engagement has moved from being channel-based to being platform-based. The speed of the platform has been made to match the speed of light as we have cut down significantly on the number of processes expected to carry out your transactions.
UBA’s Head, SME Banking, Sampson Aneke, said that apart from the fact that the app has been created with journey that has a high-level of intelligence – as it can work based on frequent transactions, it can also speak to the specific country where it is being used as the new mobile app runs concurrently in the 20 countries of UBA’s operation interacting in the different languages and cultures in line with the specific needs and regulation of the country in focus.
“This all-encompassing platform which boasts of a new user interface because of its sleek, modern nature of delivering seamless experience across several devices; can be used as a budgeting tool, loan application and also allows customers view their expenses according to their various categories such as the amount spent on data within a particular period;” Aneke added.
Commitment to customer satisfaction
Uzoka, has said that the main priority for every staff in the bank is to always ensure customer satisfaction.
This, he said, is crucial for every forward-thinking organisation such as UBA, as the customer remains the undisputed employer.
In a message to all staff to mark the commemoration of the 2021 edition of the Customer Service Week, Uzoka took time to appreciate the staff who have worked tirelessly towards satisfying their customers; and urged them not to rest on their oars.
The Customer Service Week, which is celebrated annually all over the world, recognises the importance of customer service and seeks to show appreciation to the staff who serve and support customers with the highest degree of care and professionalism.
The theme for this year’s celebrations is ‘The Power of Service’ and underscores the bank’s persistent determination to provide service to customers despite the global pandemic. It also serves as an opportunity to acknowledge the vital role of service in any organisation.
While emphasising the need for continuous excellent service delivery to customers, he said that UBA has in the last few years embarked on a journey to ensure Excellence, Enterprise, and Execution which is achievable when an institution focuses primarily on satisfying its customers.
