Sulaiman: Why We Eliminated Transfer Fees on Our Digital Platform 

The Managing Director of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Sulaiman, has announced the elimination of bank transfer fees on the bank’s digital platform OneBank. 

The move, he said, makes Sterling the first major Nigerian bank to forgo earning a cut from customer transactions on its own app.

Speaking at briefing to announce the fee elimination in Lagos recently, Suleiman said: “This is not a gimmick. This is the future. And it starts now. For years, Nigerians have paid fees just to move their own money. We’re saying no more.”

Suleiman explained that the decision stems from years of digital transformation. The bank built a custom callback system capable of handling over five million customers, already processing more than 180 million transactions. It also migrated entirely from a legacy European core to a homegrown platform built for scale, and deployed a private cloud environment with capacity well beyond current and future demand.

“We’ve engineered a platform that can support 50 times our current customer base without breaking a sweat,” Suleiman added. “It’s time to pass the benefits of that transformation back to the people.

“The zero-transfer-fee policy applies exclusively to users of OneBank, Sterling’s flagship digital app. New customers who sign up before April 30 will also receive a complimentary AfriGo debit card and lifetime access to fee-free transfers.

“This is more than a product update. It’s an economic statement,” Suleiman said. “We are taking sides with the customer, with the small business owner, with every Nigerian fired of being nickel-and-dimed by the system.”

Growth Executive Consumer and Business Banking Directorate, Obinna Ukachukwu, said the policy is both a reward for loyal customers and an invitation to new ones. “We owe this to the customers who stuck with us through our transformation journey,” Ukachukwu said.