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Emma Okonji
Wema Bank Plc, on Tuesday in Lagos, launched a revolutionary app that will automatically transform its entire banking activities into a full digital bank that will meet the needs of tech savvy customers and the millennials.
The digital app known as ALAT, is targeted at raising the bank customer base from its current 1.75 million to 3 million, and it is expected to raise its revenue base to $200 million by 2020.
The launch of the app coincided with the bank’s 72nd anniversary.
Managing Director of Wema Bank, Mr. Segun Oloketuyi, said: “Wema Bank is happy to power ALAT as the first Digital Bank in Nigeria, adding that the bank is committed to satisfying its present and prospective customers by offering them an optimal banking experience through innovative digital technology.”
“ALAT is the bank for the future and it redefines the seamless relationship we have with our customers. This is an offering to the young professionals, entrepreneurs and students who are tech savvy and always on the move. It is an opportunity to integrate banking into their lifestyle without hassles, by offering them real value, as they desire,†he said.
ALAT will be accessed via app and web, which is targeting all existing and prospective customers who are tech-savvy and upwardly mobile and it is an app-only, no-physical-contact bank.
ALAT offers customers many benefits that includes a generous interest on their savings account, seamless and fully automated processes, and dedicated 24/7 support channels, while using mobile devices. This initiative accentuates Wema Bank as an innovative market leader that listens to its customers and meets their lifestyle and technology needs, Oloketuyi said.
According to him, the app, which puts the entire Wema Bank activities in the hands of customers, offers the customers the opportunity to control the debit card by restricting its use within certain states and countries, in order to checkmate the activities of hackers who may have access to the card and clone it for fraudulent use. The customer can also restrict the card to certain electronic channels like Automated Teller Machine (ATM), and Point of Sales (PoS) machine to check unauthorised use of the card. The app offers frequent updates to the customer and allows the customer to carry out any form of banking transaction online, without visiting the physical branches of the bank.
According Oloketuyi, ALAT is the solution to the present lifestyle of the customer especially the digital natives who are upwardly mobile as banking is no longer just about transactions but also greatly about lifestyle. ALAT can be downloaded from Google Play Store.
Wema Bank’s Executive Director, Lagos Business Directorate, Folake Sanu, said with the shift to all things mobile, ALAT powered by Wema Bank, would meet today’s digital needs.
According to her, the response of most banks to the digital revolution, is the making of considerable investment in digital enterprises to maintain a competitive edge, creating gains out of technology space, with the hope that they will serve their customers seamlessly. “What we decided at Wema Bank was to create something more than a product, something that not only meets the need of our customers, but fits perfectly into their daily routine. We decided to create a lifestyle and this is why we have ALAT,” Sanu said.
