Raven Bank, a digital financial institution, has marked its second anniversary by celebrating its positive strides in the banking sector, ensuring seamless payments across its digital platforms despite the prevailing challenges in the nation’s financial sector.
Speaking at a press conference last Friday, the bank’s management shed light on its activities since inception and future plans priding itself as the bank of the people of Africa, with over five hundred thousand active subscribers, five thousand businesses and over a million dollars worth of transactions made on its platform.
Addressing journalists at the briefing, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Raven Bank, Uchenna Nnodim, described the bank’s upward trajectory as a ‘fantastic journey of grace and faith’, having his team generate ideas to build a financial system that ensures simple, fast, reliable, convenient and secure financial tools for individuals and businesses. “We sought ways in which we could be able to sync all your accounts in one place so you can access your money all at once and utilise it with ease. That’s where we started two years ago.
“When we launched our first product, we realised that there is a huge gap in the banking industry in terms of the quality of service delivered. We also saw that there were different ways people wanted to make use of their money which had not been possible. Figuring that out made us create products that are hassle-free and ensure seamless transactions. This we have achieved and earned the trust of our customers,” he said.
Continuing, he added, “As of today, we have over half a million individual customers. We also have 5,000 businesses currently using a couple of our products. We have transacted over a million dollars worth of our different products.
“One of our greatest feats has been with our offline feature, popularized with our unique Raven POS, with personalized features where one can open an account right on the device. We are also investing heavily to ensure that people can do without smartphones and still transact using the USSD system. That is in the works and will be unveiled soon in our plan 3.0.
“From the feedback we get from people who use our products, it’s mostly about the thought put into every single one of our products. They have been using lots of products before now, but when they interact with ours, a lot of pain is taken away. It’s in how we think about our businesses and our users. We call ourselves the ‘People’s Bank of Africa’.
He also hinted at the planned introduction of the Raven physical payment cards for naira and forex transactions later this year.
Commenting on the security concerns usually voiced by digital banking platform subscribers, the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chidinma Onukogu, reassured current and potential customers of the stability of the app and the safety of monies deposited with the bank, stressing that it was fully licensed and regulated by all relevant financial authorities to operate in the sector.
“I want to say that Raven is licensed by all the necessary regulatory bodies, including the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria. On the aspect of trust, we are not going anywhere anytime soon. We are fully licensed to operate in this space and have been consistent with providing quality service.”
In addition, Jude Okorharen, Raven Bank’s Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), pinpointed the bank’s smooth UI/UX as one of its outstanding features, which continues to attract new users across all demographics.
Concluding, Nnodim also highlighted CSR initiatives piloted by the bank, stressing that it works with SMEs and entrepreneurs to provide business grants, loans, financial education, and intensive training to assist them in growing their businesses.
“The Millionaire program is one where we go into dense communities and meet the entrepreneurs that need support and provide business grants to the tune of one million Naira to support and grow their business. We also take them through one-week intensive financial courses to put them on the right track to grow their business.”
He hinted at an elaborate CSR project that will impact the student community and touch over 300,000 lives, going live in the coming months as the bank continues to live up to its promise of being the ‘People’s Bank of Africa’.
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