Equity Bank boss sees death of branches as customers go digital

Equity Bank's CEO Dr James Mwangi (centre) accompanied by the bank's top staff members makes his address during the Unveiling of Equity Bank Customer-led Digital Bank at the Radisson Blue Hotel, Nairobi. Equity Bank plans to retrain its staff into salespersons and relationship managers as customer traffic in branches drops significantly.? (PHOTO: ELVIS OGINA/ STANDARD)

Equity Bank plans to retrain its staff into salespersons and relationship managers as customer traffic in branches drops significantly.

The lender’s latest figures show that just 7.4 per cent of transactions were conducted at branch compared to 63 per cent on Equitel platform and 21 per cent through agents. The bank sees less motivation in brick-and-mortar banking.

The retrained staff will be deployed to serve the few customers who want to visit branches for key transactions as well as agents and merchants, the bank’s CEO James Mwangi said yesterday. “We want to start an era of de-emphasising branch visits. The existing staff will still be there but their role will be redesigned,” Mwangi told the Press as he ruled out any retrenchment as a result of the digital disruption.

According to the bank’s Chief Human Capital and Administration Officer Reuben Mbindu, the bank is gearing for “human capital re-engineering so that employees do not just count money”.

Self-service banking

This shift, described by Mr Mwangi as third after that of reaching un-banked population and removing minimum balances on accounts, will see its 11 million customers enjoy enhanced service on digital platform. To support the high traffic on digital platform, the bank has launched Eazzy Bank, a mobile platform that brings nine products under one roof to hand control of most services to customers.

“It is like we are announcing the death of brick-and-mortar banking. Visible cash has served us long enough,” said Mwangi. The digital product comprising of Eazzy loan, Eazzy net, Eazzy bank account, Eazzy biz, Eazzy net and Eazzy API, will serve its customers both within and out of the country.

Mwangi said the product was developed after customers expressed a desire for self-service banking and their evolving and sophisticated lifestyles. With the bank’s customer base comprising mainly small business and saving groups (chamas), the bank will use the Eazzy Chama to allow for multiple approval of transactions on group accounts.

This will also help the joint investors manage group activities better by keeping records of banking transactions and maintaining transparency among members. Customers who have different accounts will also have an option to pool their money to a single account to help them manage their liquidity better, according to Mwangi.

Through Eazzy Pay, customers will pay bills straight from their phones while Eazzy loan will give them access to loans of up to Sh3 million. Year-on-year to September 2016, the bank’s Equitel platform has more than doubled its customer base and used the platform to disburse 84 per cent of its loans.