Addressing Customers’ Challenges with Embedded Financial Services

From the inception of traditional banking to digital banking, bank customers have faced various levels of challenges in payments transactions, but Fidelity Bank’s embedded financial services platform demystifies such challenges, writes Emma Okonji 

As financial institutions continue to seek new and alternative ways of improving customers’ services, emerging technologies, which are fast evolving, are helping the banks to actualise their mission in addressing customers’ challenges in all payments transactions. 

The old traditional banking system, where customers were given tally numbers and were made to queue for hours before being attended to by bank staff to perform simple financial transactions, are fast eroding with the introduction of digital financial services. 

With digital service offerings, banks have been able to reduce to a greater extent, human traffic in banking halls. This is because bank customers who make use of the available digital payment channels offered by banks, can now perform various forms of financial transactions from the comfort of their homes and offices, without visiting the banking halls. 

Banks are beginning to realise the importance of collaboration with technical partners, to develop more solutions that will enhance customer experience during financial transactions from outside of the banking hall. 

In order to further simplify online payments and accelerate its adoption process among its bank customers, Fidelity Bank, in collaboration with its technology partner, OnePipe, recently launched PayGatePlus, an embedded financial services platform that enables customers and merchants to do more of seamless financial transactions with ease.

Embedded Financial Services 

Last week, Fidelity Bank, in collaboration with OnePipe, launched its embedded financial services platform, designed to make payments transactions a lot easier for its customers and merchants.

The embedded financial services platform, known as PayGatePlus, is an upgrade of its PayGate solution.

Speaking at the launch of the solution, the Executive Director and Chief Operations and Information Officer of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Stanley Amuche,  who represented the banks’ managing director, said: “Innovation is the key pillar of our strategic framework and we are constantly looking for new ways to improve our services and delight our customers. Everything we do as a financial organisation including the design of our products and services has the customer as the main focus. It is on this basis that we have worked with our technical partner, Onepipe over the past few months to innovate a solution that enables businesses across different sectors to easily integrate financial services with their product offerings. The new PayGatePlus is a significant upgrade of the legacy PayGate product and we are very optimistic that it will open more opportunities for revenue growth for our customers.” 

According to Amuche, “Working with OnePipe as an innovation partner, Fidelity Bank has evolved PayGate into PayGatePlus, a comprehensive embedded finance platform that empowers organisations in any sector to integrate financial services within their businesses and offerings. PayGatePlus’ services now include virtual accounts, web payments, online collections via NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP), funds transfer, direct debit, balance inquiry, statement, BVN validation, direct credit and Buy Now, Pay Later services.”

Amuche added: “PayGatePlus helps take away the hassles of irreconcilable payments, reporting and settlement. Since its soft launch about a year ago, several brands across FMCG, Aviation, Agency banking and fintech sectors have embedded a range of the services available on the platform.”

Giving further details of PayGatePlus, the Divisional Head, E-Banking at Fidelity Bank, Mrs. Ifeoma Onibuje, described the embedded financial services platform as an ecosystem of products, developed as a one-stop-shop solution to empower customers and merchants to do varieties of financial transactions with utmost ease. She further said the solution would enable instant cash payment for merchants and instant cash transaction for customers.

“The PayGatePlus is an enhanced version of PayGate, which is Fidelity Bank’s flagship gateway that enables businesses and merchants to collect online payments,” Onibuje said.

Experts’ Views 

During the launch of PayGatePlus in Lagos last week, a panel session was organised to discuss the theme: ‘Embedded Financial Services As A Driver For Seamless Customer Experience’.

The panelists who gave their excerpt views on embedded financial services, stressed the need for financial technology innovation in the banking sector, and explained how Fidelity Bank had positioned itself over the years to drive innovation in the financial services sector. 

One of the panelists, who is the Managing Director, Payment Processing and Switching at Interswitch, Mr. Akeem Lawal, commended the initiative of Fidelity Bank over its embedded financial services offerings, insisting that banks have evolved over the years as trusted financial institutions because they hold a lot of customer data that enable them to develop solutions that enhance customers’ experience.

CEO and Founder of OnePipe, Ope Adeoye, expressed the Company’s excitement in partnering Fidelity Bank to upgrade the payment gateway. He said the aggressive drive by Fidelity Bank to digitise payment services, has helped customers to do more financial transactions outside of the banking hall.

Business Opportunities

Speaking during the panel session about the business opportunities in embedded financial services, Lawal said for many years, banking services have been carried out in the traditional way, but that over the years, technology has changed the face of banking and has moved banking services to the level where banks now engage with customers in a digital way, through various digital channels. “Embedded banking services are significant in various ways because it has but the distribution of financial services in the hands of the customers, away from the control of banks and Fintechs. Embedded financing is creating new opportunities for partnerships with more customers,” Lawal said.

The Founder and CEO of Capricon, Mr. Debola Abudu, who also spoke during the panel session about the importance of embedded financing and how it would expand the finance industry, said Fidelity Bank had over the years, pioneered various financial solutions that enhanced customers’ experience. “The ability of Fidelity Bank to partner with Fintechs to create digital products, is helping to expand products and services in the financial industry. Fidelity and other banks have moved from the traditional ways of offering bank services, to a digital way of offering bank services, through various digital channels.  Today we have new distribution channels like agent networks leveraging on embedded financial services to enhance customers’ experience,” Abudu said.

Addressing the potential of embedded financing, and how is it driving financial inclusion, the Head, FinTech and Telecoms at Fidelity Bank, Mrs. Nwanja Onyekwere, said the mission of Fidelity Bank is to make financial services a lot easier in such a way that the services can enhance financial inclusion. “Through collaboration, we will continue to introduce solutions that help customers and merchants in the journey towards digital transformation. Our Buy-Now-Pay-Later solution, is one solution that has helped the merchants grow the database of their customers and also build a relationship of trust with them. With this solution and others that are embedded in our platform of solutions, Fidelity is offering easier and accessible services to customers that are driving financial inclusion in the banking sector,” Onyekwere said.

The Challenges 

Adeoye, who spoke on the challenges faced by Fintech players in offering solutions to corporate organisations, said the most challenging part for Fintechs is at the beginning of developing a particular solution that will address specific challenges. At that stage, Fintechs spend quality time consulting with with customers and understanding their worries and likes. At this point point, there is also huge investment to ensure that the solution works and accepted by customers. So time and investments are huge challenge for us as Fintechs. In addressing the challenges, we need to be patient till the solution is fully developed and ready for market. Again there is need for collaboration among Fintechs and the financial institutions, in order to work together as a team to achieve success, Adeoye said.

Lawal however gave insights on the steps taken to address the risk and challenges that comes with emerging technologies that are driving embedded financing. 

According to Lawal, “Emerging technologies come with their own challenges but the banks that are using the technology to offer services, are handling and mitigating such challenges without the customers feeling the impact. 

Payment Ecosystem And Regulation 

In addressing how the payment ecosystem is changing face of banking in a highly regulated economy like Nigeria, Adeoye said: “Emerging technologies are driving things much faster than we imagined, and banks are constantly innovating to change the future of banking. What we see today in most banks is the aggressiveness to digitise their internal processes in line with the digital era, and this has led to several innovations in the payment space, thus making payments more digital, flexible and easily accessible.”

Today we have various payment channels and there are new approaches to payment transactions. In the area of regulation, payment methods are fast changing, which leaves a question mark in regulation, Adeoye said.

Onyekwere who made emphasis on the large customer base of Fidelity Bank, and how customers are adopting new services that are driven by emerging technologies, explained that customers had always accepted new solutions with excitement. “There are products for the market and the market is waiting to get more of the products,” Onyekwere said.

In building technology solutions that drive financial inclusion, Lawal and Debola, gave insights about bank’s consideration for customers that are non-tech savvy. 

According to them, “The embedded solution is a digital platform for all, including those that are tech savvy and those that are less tech savvy.

For those that are less tech savvy, there are agent banking merchants that can explain the process to the less savvy customers and bring them on the same page with the more tech savvy customers. With the embedded platform that Fidelity is offering, it makes it a lot more easier for everybody to carry out financial transactions with ease.The retail channel has the largest distribution channel in payment transaction, and we believe all customers will be at home with the embedded financing being offered by Fidelity Bank.”

Customer Satisfaction 

Addressing the importance of streamlining financial services for customers’ satisfaction, Onyekwere said: It is Key for Fidelity to collaborate with our technical partners to provide financial services to customers and to streamline the services to meet customers need, because technology is evolving and more solutions are been developed to make payment much more easier for the customer. 

Ope, in his views, said technology had enabled a whole lot of services that have exposed customers to varieties of payment channels, which GE said, have brought a lot of satisfaction to customers. 

All panelists were of the view that the Fidelity Bank embedded financial services, would continue to act as a platform of solutions that would give the customers a whole lot of convenience when carrying out financial transactions of any sort. It brings comfort to financial transactions, and makes it easier for people to transact even from the comfort of their homes and offices. It has opened opportunities for improved insurance and healthcare schemes, the panelists said.