TheCable

Patrick Akinwuntan, the managing director of Ecobank Nigeria, says the bank will expand its agent banking locations to 50,000 before the end of 2019.

During a media chat that held in Lagos, Akinwuntan said the expansion is in line with the bank’s vision to ensure financial inclusion of all Nigerians.

“We have a presence in every state in Nigeria. We have a customer base of 9 million in Nigeria, with 400 branches. More interestingly, more than 4,000 agency locations known as Ecobank Xpress point which is our approach to bringing banking to every neighbourhood,” he said.

“Our ambition is to have 50,000 of such locations this year such that in every neighbourhood you can access Ecobank Xpress point to do cash deposit, withdrawal and actually make it more convenient for customers to open an account, get an instant card and participate in the financial economy.

“Across the group, we have about 4,000 ATMs. In Nigeria, we have 2,000 ATMs and we are still expanding the ATM network.”

The Ecobank boss said the bank is already partnering with fintech companies and social media channels to offer banking services.

“As you know if you look at the intellectual economy, Nigeria is becoming a major hub in Africa. We had Facebook come here to see what was going on, and a number of Fin-tech companies becoming major players globally, attracting investments for the big IT companies and startups,” he said.

“Ecobank is seeking to become the partner that provides the banking services for the intellectuals and the economic growth that they are fostering. We partner with Fin-techs, we do not compete with them, we understand that they have their value and we now have a digital platform that makes us the platform of choice and we have physical locations that guarantee distribution to the last mile.”