By Samson Echenim

Saturday, 30 Oct 2010

Despite the introduction of faster alternative banking transaction methods, long queues of customers waiting to pay in or withdraw cash are still a common sight in banking halls. Samson Echenim reports that, though experts are of the opinion that the majority of Nigerian bank customers are not sophisticated enough for Internet banking, they suggest that banks should have more branches in the areas where excessive crowding and long queues have constituted a nuisance.

A civil engineer, Mr. Benson Adegboyega, had never witnessed a more difficult day since he got a contract to build a duplex for a client at a busy area of Igando, Lagos, until Monday morning. He resumed at the site at 8am to meet protesting artisans, who vowed never to go to work until their arrears were paid.

Realising that the labourers meant every bit of their demand, Adegboyega quickly rushed to the nearest bank at Ikotun, a neighbouring town, to clear a cheque paid him the previous day by another client. He had hoped to make it back to the site in about half an hour. But he was wrong.

He got to the bank to meet a long queue of customers outside the banking hall. It took him about 15 minutes to get inside the bank, where the real waiting actually began. The crowd inside the bank was intimidating, but Adegboyega must wait.

When it was his turn to be attended to, he was told to wait for some more time for response from the branch where the issuer‘s account was domiciled after an e-mail was sent to the branch. He still had to wait, but not before he had yelled and yelled to show his dissatisfaction.

He finally left the bank, with his money at 12.05pm. But at the site, he met only the structure; the artisans had gone. Recounting his frustration, he said, ”That Monday went with the winds and I had to painfully bear the cost.”

Many other people go through the same time-wasting process on a daily basis, especially in some areas of Lagos, which are usually relegated as rural areas because they are not within the suburbs. Ikotun is one of such areas.

Ironically, a large percentage of the population of Lagos State reside in this area because there are a number of neighbouring towns, such as Ijegun, Aberanje, Ijedodo, Igando, Isheri and Idimu, among others, which are lumped under one umbrella.

But because the banks do not see the business sense in opening branches there, the residents troop to Ikotun, where only a few banks have branches.

One of the customers of an old generation bank, Mrs. Uzoma Obumneke, told our correspondent that banks in the area had small halls with few workers.

She said, ”You can see with your own eyes. If you enter inside there, you will find only three cashiers. Two are paying and only one person is receiving cash. I think the problem is that this area is not receiving adequate attention by the banks.”

She also blamed the crowd outside the banking hall on ”unduly strict security measures at the point of entry.”

Crowding is also predominant in banks at Ojodu. Customers come from Omole Estate, Akute, Lambe, River Valley Estate and Sparklight Estate, among others, to bank in the few banks that are along Ojodu Road. It is also common to have crowds in the banks on Mobil Road, Ajegunle.

A customer of a new generation bank at Ojodu, Mr. Tayo Ibikunle, who also had a horrible waiting experience at the banking hall, said banks must build more branches, where their customers had outgrown a certain capacity.

A telecoms professional, Ibikunle said, ”Banks must have a maximum number of customers for each branch, taking into consideration, non-domiciled customers, who may patronise the branch.”

On the use of ATM as an alternative for time-saving transaction, he said he decided not to use the ATM, ”at least for now,” after his younger brother lost all his savings to fraudsters shortly after his service year.

He said, ”Unfortunately, the bank could not help to provide the person, who stole over N100,000 from my brother‘s account, using the ATM. It could not even tell us the particular ATM location, where the money was stolen.

”Besides, sometimes, you get debited when you try to use the ATM. Reversing the transaction could take some stress and sometimes, they don‘t even get corrected. Everything that works so well in developed countries doesn‘t work here.”

Amos Usiwele will not order for an ATM card from his bank because he believes it makes him spend indiscriminately.

He said, ”For me, the ATM makes me spend more money than I ought to, because it makes the money handy. So, I decided not to be using it as a way of controlling my spending habit. But it is good to have it for people, who have reasonable self-control.”

A senior bank executive at an old generation bank, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to our correspondent on Wednesday, said the branches were helpless as they must operate on policies passed down to them from the head office.

He said, ”Banks are having very tough times. Building more branches or hiring more staff has cost implications. Every bank has rules and we cannot do otherwise. When we ask customers to wait for response of an e-mail sent to branches where paying accounts are domiciled, we do this to protect our clients.

”It may not be okay to have a long queue of customers outside the banking hall, but the security measures put in place are also important. It is also good for the customers too. I think that customers, who want to do small transactions should use the ATM machines. It is convenient and time-saving.”

He added, ”Most banks are now using verve cards and these cards are very safe. What customers, who have lost their money to fraudsters don‘t realise is that, at one time or the other, they must have given their security information unwittingly to someone else. Most times, the culprit turns out to be the victim‘s friend or relative.”

To a financial consultant, Mr. Bola Goke, opening more branches is the way out because the Nigerian banking public is not as sophisticated as those of the developed countries.

According to him, ”There is no big deal about the cost of opening a branch. Many Nigerians do not even have an account. Even if we have 100 commercial banks in this country, the serious ones, who mean business, will still have large clientele.

”It is simple logic. The more branches a bank has, the better its chance of expansion and profit making. At a time banks are coming into the market places to seek customers, it is important they think of better ways to retain them.”

But with the current trend in the financial market, opening more branches may not be attractive for the banks.

A senior executive at Skye Bank Plc, who also preferred anonymity, said banks were realigning and having more branches was no longer the issue.

He said, ”If you can serve your customers better with fewer branches, so be it. Banks are developing new business ideas, with some now focusing more on the corporate end. They are focusing on companies and the small business enterprises. Because of this, growth may no longer depend on quantity of customers. Having less number of branches is a way of cutting down cost. After all, it is not all the branches that are making profit.

”Every bank customer should request for a verve card from his bank. The ATM even reduces the processing time. If customers embrace the use of ATM, there is no way we can have long queues.”

A spokesman for an old generation bank said, ”Banks want to cut cost. So they are no longer considering more branches as a good strategy. The problem is that many customers have low knowledge of e-banking, so they keep on doing their little transactions in the banking halls.”

Source: Punch