FirstBank unveils digital experience centre in Lekki

FirstBank on Monday launched its fifth fully automated branch, the FirstBank Digital Xperience Centre at Admiralty Way, Lekki, Lagos State.

Speaking at the occasion, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank, Segun Alebiosu, said that the future of banking is digital and that FirstBank is prepared for that future.

The Digital Xperience Centre is a leap by FirstBank towards revolutionising the banking industry in the country. It is designed to cater for the growing and evolving needs of consumers and the banking public, enabling customers to navigate the digital landscape with confidence. Other locations with previously commissioned centres are Adetokunbo Ademola Branch, Victoria Island, University of Ibadan, Wuse Branch, Abuja and Banana Island, Lagos.

Speaking at the unveiling, Alebiosu said, “The future of banking is digital, and it is important we appreciate this. The children who are 10 and 15 years old today will need banking; we have trained them with phones. How will they go to a banking hall in 10 years? The answer is digital.

“This is just making it easier for customers to transact. So, just imagine, on a Sunday, you don’t have anything in your hands; you have lost your ATM card. You can come in, and in three minutes, you have another ATM card. You can pay in your money, do transfers, and do phone number and email changes.”

Alebiosu added that the launch of the digital experience aligns with the agenda of the bank, which will continue to open up more self-service branches across its operational base.

“This pushes us forward in our agenda. I will be in UNN in April to commission the same. If you ask my team, they will tell you what we have for UNILAG, LASU, and BUK in Kano. Of course, as we expand in each location where we are present, you will keep seeing these digital experience centres. As I said earlier, in the next 10 years, how many people will go to the banking halls? The young ones of today will only make use of their smartphones, so why go to a bank to queue? We are preparing the future for them. They have seen their parents do it, so they can do it on their own. Maybe it will be a different way of banking, but whatever it is, FirstBank will be there with innovation.”

Group Head, Branch Operations and Services for Lagos and West, Abimbola Kunle-Ajayi, said, “The Digital Experience Centre is a way to showcase innovative initiatives. You can see the turnaround time in terms of processing things. For a transfer that you can do in the branch for between 15 and 20 minutes, it was done in less than two minutes, from there to the card vending, and I was able to vend the card within three minutes. For the customer, it is convenient, and they are always delighted to do things for themselves.”

Kunle-Ajayi added that security at the experience centres has been improved, saying, “When we opened our earlier digital centres, for the self-service kiosks, all you needed was your biometrics, but from today, you will observe that beyond the biometrics, we were looking at our phones. That’s the OTP, so we decided to enhance security, and customers can rest assured that they are safe transacting here.”

Also speaking at the event, Executive Director, Retail Banking South, Oluseyi Oyefeso, said the self-service centre had been created with the customers in mind.

“The centre is created specifically to meet the needs of our customers. We realise that in this age and time, a lot of people just want to get their business done and be on their way, and that is why this is here: come in, serve yourself and be on your way,” he said.

Oyefeso went on to reassure customers that the equipment at the digital experience centre would be available for use at any point in time. “We assure you that you will enjoy them, and we will keep working just to make sure that we are everywhere you turn to make banking very easy for you.”