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Equity Bank Holdings Plc has started transforming its branches into relationship management centers where its customers will get personalized customer experience.
Equity Bank Holdings managing director and chief executive Dr. James Mwangi said that for the last three months the Group’s innovation and digitization strategy accounted for 91 percent of all transactions. Mwangi said the move has enabled it to turn from the fixed costs incurred in brick and mortar branches and Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) to variable cost delivery channels of the internet, mobile App, agency and merchant banking.
Mwangi said commercial banks have started to understand that asset management will boost non-interest revenue and foreign currency earnings. “Of the total 341.3 million monetary transactions, only 30.3 million transactions passed through the branches and ATMs with the rest, 311 million transactions, passing through the third-party channels,” he said adding that this shift in delivery channels resulted in 11 percent reduction in staff costs while registering a modest two percent increase in total costs maintaining a cost-income ratio of 51.6 percent at the Group.
He said data from financial results indicate that more customers have now shifted to accessing financial services via personalized devices like the EazzyBanking App, Equitel, Internet Banking, Agency Banking, and Merchants.
According to the data, Equitel transactions shot by 31.3 per cent to 197 million as at September 2017 compared to 150 million transactions during the same month in 2016. The amount transacted also grew by 41 percent from Sh250.8 billion to Sh353.6 billion.
Internet banking recorded 1,696 percent increase from Sh5.4 billion to Sh96.9 billion, agency banking 18 per cent from Sh331.6 billion to Sh391.3 billion and merchants grew by 16 percent from Sh34.8 billion to Sh40.3 billion in transaction value.
He said despite branches recording a decline of six percent from 15.7 million to 14.7 million transactions, there has been a three percent increase in the value of transactions from Sh1.071 billion to Sh1.106 billion.
The increment was driven by the bank’s focus on the small medium enterprises (SMEs) sector, corporate and supreme banking. Currently, Equity Bank has rolled out supreme branches countrywide, as it sets its eyes on positioning the branches as relationship management centers of excellence.