By Chinwendu Obienyi
In a bid to remain the most trusted partner to Nigerian enterprises, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc (UBN) has stated that it would continue to maintain its focus on retail banking and support for SMEs.
Its Chief Brand & Marketing Officer, Ogochukwu Ekezie-Ekaidem, said this at an interactive session with senior officials of the bank via zoom. Ekezie-Ekaidem explained that the bank did everything to stay open to its customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that post-lockdown, it embarked on more strategies to become flexible enough to interact with its customers.
“We have a new leadership under Mr Emeka Okonkwo, as new bank Chief Executive Officer and so we are more than ready to remain Nigeria’s most trusted partner. We recognise that the economy is a bit sluggish, trying to recover gradually from the recession and that is why we are focused on retail banking and SMEs and we will continue to grow brands and offerings that customers need.
“We are committed to empowering the SMEs segment to enable them access funds and create values. We are trying to make sure we cluster as many of them to create value. It is important to note that it is not only loans that they require, they ask for other needs like advice, access to market, advisory and among others. On the banking side, we have continued to push forward under the new CEO, We have structured our businesses in such a way that gives autonomy to our regions”, She explained.
She also said that the bank intends to do more in the lives of its customers to ensure the value of the brand keeps improving.
She revealed that the bank’s loan book is being strictly monitored and the bank is working on ways to improve it.
On the rise in cybercrime, the bank’s spokesperson noted that it was a global issue, exacerbated by digitalisation.
“What we as a bank have done is to initiate systems to ensure we find out about these breaches and that is a good thing because our protection systems are working. We want to be ahead of the criminals by upgrading our systems regularly.”