Chinwendu Obienyi
Affluent customers represent a conundrum for most financial institution providers in the sense that their revenue potential should be much better especially with the fact that these institutions target the unbanked and the underbanked.
However, profit is typically compromised by high cost to serve, driven by the perceived need to respond to demands for higher service levels while utilising expensive personal financial advisors.
However, new ways to exploit readily-available technologies offer the opportunity for forward-looking competitors to break the linkage between high service and high cost.
The competitive landscape of the Affluent segment will be redrawn over the next few years as lenders adopt better and cheaper ways to serve these clients and disrupt the businesses of laggards, leaving them with leadership only in the high cost, low profit segment.
This is why Access Bank Plc is providing a guaranteed banking experience or premium subscription designed to give its customers special privileges and the exceptional service they deserve as well as adding value through its XclusivePlus proposition.
The innovation of this proposition started with the defunct Diamond Bank in 2018 due to the rise in customer spend in the past few years for luxury travel, luxury experiences and luxury products among the emerging affluent client segment.
Speaking on the XclusivePlus Proposition, Karimont Tukur who spearheaded the Consumer banking segment at the defunct bank, noted that XclusivePlus is well positioned to further enhance their lifestyle and provide them with the most satisfying rewards.
According to her, “XclusivePlus membership comes with an automatic card upgrade to the Diamond Visa signature naira debit card. Diamond Bank is the first bank in Nigeria to go to market with this card. This is a naira card with higher spend limits and enabled for international spend”.
However, the narrative has changed after the defunct bank merged with Access Bank with the latter aiming to deepen its relationship with its existing and new customers.
The bank was recently awarded “Best Affluent Banking Initiative in West Africa 2019” at the prestigious Asian Banker Awards which held at Eko hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Speaking at the award ceremony, Emmanuel Daniel, Chairman, Asian Banker, said, “As you all know, the Excellence in Retail Financial Services Programme is probably the most rigorous, prestigious and transparent Award Programme for consumer financial services in the world. We evaluate more than 300 banks and non- bank retail financial service players in more than 42 countries in a thorough evaluation process every year.”
“The programme also assesses all new players such as payments companies’ marketplace platforms and alternative financial services platform made possible by financial technology company’s (FINTECH) who are grate- fully contributing to the transformation of the retail financial services industry.
Through this, we aim to capture the evolving competitive landscape and recognize outstanding players and initiatives, from which the industry can learn from to, improve consumer products, services and experience. The XclusivePlus proposition is one of such great initiatives in the financial service sector, and that is why we are recognizing the product today as “Best Affluent Banking Initiative in West Africa 2019” he concluded.
While speaking to Daily Sun recently, Head, Consumer Propositions, Dolapo Orelaja, said that Access Bank Plc is targeting about 100,000 subscribers in its XclusivePlus platform, add- ing that the Bank believes the target would be exceeded given its recent merger with defunct Diamond Bank.
“The XclusivePlus Proposition is a premium lifestyle offering specifically designed to provide our customers with the exceptional service and exclusive privileges that they deserve. It was launched in October 2018 and today has thousands of subscribers amounting to 11,000 who understand the value of the proposition.
Customers stand to benefit immensely once a customer gets upgraded to a visa signature card in which he or she would have access to all these proposition”. Orelaja said.
Speaking further, she said, “We are deepening our relationship with our customers, as this proposition is our own little way of adding value to our customers. For Xclusive Plus, there is a subscription fee – a monthly subscription fee of N5,999 for you to have access to 24- hour global concierge service, VIP treatment in over 900 hotels and other benefits. Customers can also choose to do quarterly subscription which is about N17,997. We are offering a 20 per cent discount to customers who would want to subscribe annually, which is about N57,599, rather than pay N75,000.”
Also speaking, Proposition Manager, Access Bank, Adeola Rojaye, explained that customers just need to walk into any of the bank’s branches and subscribe to the XclusivePlus proposition, adding that given its easy-entry-easy-exit status, customers can opt out once they feel it is no longer enhancing their lifestyle.
A subscriber of the product, Ifeoma Nwigwe, a Fitness Instructor, said the proposition is cost-effective, say- ing she would recommend it to her friends.
She recalled that: “There was a girl managing my account, and it was just a regular Diamond Bank account, and she told me about the Xclusive account and the benefits, and I subscribed. Few months later, I had to travel out of Nigeria, and when I got to the airport, I saw Access Bank lounge and instantly I remembered that with the merger, i would able to enjoy benefits. So I went in and gave them my card, and it felt like I was flying business/first class because it was an exclusive lounge.”
Another subscriber, Abiodun Gaffar, a lawyer at Sorrel and Trace Partner, said, “I have always enjoyed this proposition i subscribed to it. I have enjoyed having free movie tickets, access to Xclusive premium lounges and free multi-trade travel insurance. Access Bank should continue to sustain this proposition add more other initiatives”