One of Nigeria’s leading banks – Wema Bank has set out to make this season of love as eventful as possible for her customers and members of its social media community.

With an outline of activities peppered with giveaways of all sorts, including goody bags, airtime and even data bonuses, Wema Bank is indeed poised to bringing the spirit of love, good cheer and fun to all, especially in this season.

The Bank’s two-week long love campaign on social media, slated for February 5 – 18, 2021, will be geared towards encouraging new and existing customers to transact and pay bills with the *945# string codes, as such actions will be getting rewarded with prizes.

Knowledge of the different *945# string codes, wit and creativity in developing loved-themed messages and videos around the codes and even fastest-finger-first type quizzes amongst other activities will be featured during the 14-day campaign run.

Speaking towards the kick off of the event, Wema Bank’s Head, Brand and Marketing Communications, Funmilayo Falola said: “The *945# sting codes represent the ease and simplicity of banking that we offer our customers. Plugging into this festivity of love, we intend to remind our Wema Bank family that not only do we care for their ease of banking, but their general welfare and happiness is a concern of ours, hence the gift and goodies attached to this campaign.”

Even as her customers go about transacting with the *945# string codes this season, hoping to claim one prize or the other, the Bank encourages them to be especially loving, not just to family and friends but even to their own selves as well.

With the African Continental Free Trade Area now in force, the opportunities for SMEs to expand and grow are boundless. Information is key to unlocking all the benefits inherent in this agreement to Nigeria businesses.

Wema Bank is holding a webinar designed to provide SMEs with all the information they require to leverage this great opportunity for expansion and growth. The webinar which is tagged, “African Continental Free Trade Area; Unlocking the Benefits to SMEs, will feature thought leaders and industry experts including;

Mr. Francis Anatogu, Executive Secretary, National Action Committee on AFCTA & Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Sector. Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, Fiscal Policy Partner & West Africa Tax Leader, PwC; and Mr. Adeola Ajai, Head Correspondent Banking, Wema Bank.

Attendees will get clarity on the scope of the African Free Trade Agreement, how they can benefit from this agreement, modalities set out by government for businesses seeking to trade under this agreement as well as the support mechanism put together by Wema Bank to facilitate intra-Africa trade.

While the webinar targets Nigeria Businesses, it is open to all members of the public who may be interested in learning about the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

The Webinar, which is free for attendees, will hold virtually on Zoom platform on 10am, Friday, 29th January 2021. Interested persons can register via this link.

For more enquiries, please contact SMEhelpdesk@wemarestore.azurewebsites.net

Nigeria’s leading innovative Bank, Wema Bank, has shortlisted ten finalists to take part in the Virtual Bootcamp for its Hackaholics (2.0) Accelerator Program slated to start on the 18th of January 2021. The finalists, pooled from over five hundred applications, were revealed during the two-day virtual pitch program last year.

The pitch program began with an opening remark by the Managing Director, Wema Bank, Mr Ademola Adebise. He commended the startups for their efforts and willingness to contribute to the growth of Nigerian society. He said, “We are very proud to create a platform where businesses can have access to diverse resources that can enable them to provide solutions to prevailing everyday challenges. This is born out of our aspiration to create innovative solutions that can help us as a bank, our environment and the country at large. In its second year, we are very excited to have started an initiative focused on creating commercialization opportunities for participating businesses by leveraging top-notch resources needed to give their solutions a competitive edge in the market”.

The first day of the pitch program was an avenue for participating startups to prepare and get to know more about Hackaholics 2.0, the evaluation criteria, an overview of each identified industry, market demands and needs, the importance of tech in these areas, and a session for questions and answers. The second day of the program enabled participants to pitch their solutions to a group of industry experts(panellists) resulting in the shortlisting of ten finalists out of the twenty participants that pitched their solutions.

The ten finalists made up of two businesses across the five identified verticals; Health-tech, Edutech, Fintech, Gaming & Betting and Agritech, would be further engaged and helped to develop and groom their solutions into market-ready products. Among other engagement is an intensive month-long Bootcamp where these startups would undergo various ideation, design and development sessions in collaboration with our partners GreenHouse Capital (GHC) and known industry experts from home and abroad.

Wema Bank Nigeria Plc ranked top in two recent independent surveys on the Banking industry. In its 2020 Digital Channel scorecard, KPMG Nigeria named the bank as a leader in Payments and Transactions for digital banking. Also, in its recently released Banking Industry Customer Experience Survey, the consulting firm confirmed that Wema Bank climbed ten places to 2nd position in the Retail category.

Following a qualitative study of 17 Nigerian commercial banks focusing strongly on retail banking operations, KPMG Nigeria’s Digital scorecard tested customer experience across five areas – Digital Onboarding, Digital Payments & Transfers, Digital Lending, Self Service and Customer Care. It categorized banks into four distinct categories; Leaders, Challengers, Followers and Late Starters. Wema Bank emerged a leader in the Mobile & Internet banking (payments/transfers) and the Self-Service categories.

The assessment also revealed ALAT By Wema, the bank’s digital banking platform, as the best digital banking channel in Nigeria. According to the report, ALAT By Wema stands out because “the user interface is simple, and only relevant information is visible on the screen, thus keeping design minimal, user friendly, and removing the possibilities for user errors or confusion”. The digital banking platform has not only provided the latest banking technology, it fits perfectly into the lifestyle of Nigerians; making life easier for everyone.

In the recently published 2020 KPMG Customer Experience Survey, Wema Bank showed significant growth in the retail category, climbing up ten (10) places from the previous year to 2nd position, with an above industry average of 74.6% CX score. The survey cut across six universal pillars of Personalization, Integrity, Expectations, Resolution, Time & Effort and Empathy. The leading banks showed a mastery of these pillars and are outstanding at all of them. Wema Bank’s achievement in this category is a mark of its dedication to excellent customer service and refreshing support for all its customers. 

Separately, the bank received an award for the Best SME Bank of the Year for 2020 from BusinessDay. The award recognizes Wema Bank’s continuous support for small and medium scale businesses through loans, business advisory, and ease of payments and transactions.

Having redefined the banking space with ALAT, Wema Bank boasts of a capacity to onboard customers digitally end-to-end without the need to visit branches or agents. The bank continues to deliver innovative products to enrich payment and transfer offerings by creating a perfect blend of speed and functionality.

Wema Bank, Nigeria’s long-standing indigenous bank is urging customers and all Nigerians to stay safe as a result of the recent unrest in the country following the #endsars protest. As a highly innovative bank, Wema Bank encourages everyone to explore alternative banking channels as well as its digital banking platform ALAT for all financial transactions at a time like this.
Wema bank has recently notified customers of its decision to shut down branches in affected locations where a curfew has been imposed by the government, following this development, the bank issued a statement on its social media channels pleading with customers to remain sensitive to happenings in their environment and ensure safety is treated as top priority. Wema bank also urged its customers to be remain alert and be wary of phishing emails as times like this become target period for scammers to carry out their deeds.
Alternative banking channels available as disclosed by the bank includes the use of *945#, whatsapp banking as well as the use of ALAT, Africa’s first digital bank, to carry out banking needs. Customers can also reach out to its 24 hours contact centre; PURPLECONNECT (07000787753,• purpleconnect@wemarestore.azurewebsites.net) for prompt and seamless issues resolution.
In a statement made by Mrs Funmilayo Falola, Head, Brands and Marketing communication, Wema Bank, “We understand these are peculiar times and we encourage everyone to remain safe. As a bank, we remain committed to the safety and wellbeing of our customers which is why we plead with everyone to ensure they stay home as our online banking channels are available for all banking needs. We would continually keep to our promise to be with you all the way and we are positive that together we will achieve our dream of a better Nigeria.