Yemisi Izuora
Sterling Bank Plc has won the Innovative Bank of the Year Award at the 2019 edition of the Electronic Payment Incentive Scheme (EPIS) Efficiency Awards organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBBS).
The CBN EPIS Efficiency Awards, now in its fourth edition is held annually to celebrate financial institutions, merchants and all other stakeholders at the forefront of driving electronic payments in Nigeria.
Sterling Bank beat all other Nigerian banks in the innovation and platform efficiency categories. The awards were presented by senior officials of CBN and NIBSS at an elaborate event which held at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos over the weekend.
Group Head, Transaction Banking at Sterling Bank Plc, Abidemi Asunmo, said the bank has always been at the forefront of efforts to provide customers with unique electronic payments channels that promote financial inclusion.
“Understanding each customer while providing bespoke solutions to suit them is at the core of all we do at Sterling Bank and we are delighted to be recognised as the leading innovative bank of the year by the CBN and NIBSS. We will continue to ensure that our customers enjoy the best of services through our various portals including Specta and I-invest, among others.”
According to NIBSS, the awards are based on objective analysis of all e-payment data collated by NIBSS over a full calendar year in addition to public voting and surveys administered to industry stakeholders for transactions within the year under review.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Mrs. Aisha Ahmad, Deputy Governor, CBN, said NIBBS would retain the vision for the future. She advised banks and other merchants to scale up their capacities to innovate as well as enhance capacity to handle large transaction values.
The Deputy Governor enjoined stakeholders to look at issues of interoperability, cyber security framework, collaboration and shared threats to their security systems.
While delivering the welcome address, the acting Managing Director of the NIBBS, Mr. Niyi Ajao, said 2018 was a miracle year for financial inclusion as several landmark events were recorded in the industry.
He listed some of the achievements during the review year to include commencement of shared agency network services, which was aimed at growing the network; closure of the year with 85 agents, release of payment guidelines, flag-off of national micro finance bank and commencement of BVN enrolment outside bank branches, among others.