Editorial & ProductionJean-Luc AtelierOlusola DaCostaElizabeth Okereke

EditorAnne N. Agbakoba

Web www.numeris-media.comEmail info@numeris-media.com

A NUMERIS-MEDIAPublication

ContactProvidence House (2nd Floor), Admiralty Way,Lekki Peninsula Phase 1, Lagos - Nigeria

Please give us a bit of a background on the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Group - and what you think justifies its description as a leader in the banking industry.

KCB’s leadership position goes far and beyond the numbers which say we are number one in assets, net loans and advances, customer deposits, total revenues, profit before tax, and branch network, to name the top metrics. Our leadership can be justified by the strides we have made in changing the landscape of banking in this market. KCB was the first bank to take an active role in taking banking across its borders and into the region. Today, with five regional businesses, we are well positioned to reduce the reliance on Kenyan businesses for the future growth of the Group. KCB has been the first in the market to introduce revolutionary products such as the check off loans which are, today, common place in the market, home loans and also the first bank to offer a full suite of mortgage products and related services. Our technology platform is unrivaled in this part ofthe world. Having implemented our core banking systemin 2008, our customers were the first to enjoy the truly one-branch-bank experience as we were able to offer seamless real time transactions in any of the 6 markets, irrespective of the origin of the customer. Further on the technology space, KCB was the pioneer of mobile banking, having introduced several phases of the product and including the first bank to enable account opening via mobile phone. Most recently, KCB has partnered with the largest telecommunications provider, Safaricom, on the first of three launches to introduce products that can be used by customers for both entities. This marks the beginning of a partnership that will increase access for banking customers to mobile products.

What, in your view, does KCB’s network (bricks-and-mortar branch, and other channels) have to offer to the rural, local and international consumer in terms of anywhere, anytime banking?

KCB has over 235 branches across the region (6 countries) and over 8,000 agents. Going forward, the brick and mortar branches will be strategically opened and located. New branches will be specific to certain segments or areas of high population density and higher economic activity where presence today is either nonexistent or insufficient given the opportunity. Naturally, the number of new outlets will not grow rapidly but will be instead supported through a transition to alternative channels as described above. With technology enabling a wide range of services to be available via alternative channels, KCB will unlock the rural and international consumer through use of technology. Today, customers are conversant with the use of the mobile and agents and with these channels being both cheaper for the bank and customer, they will form the pillar for rural penetration. Agents offer extended hours (not anytime) beyond what conventional branches are able to do and are much closer to the customers residence or business premises. For anytime anywhere, the mobile is the best solution to

this. Mobile applications have enabled customers to perform all transactions at anytime and from any location. Internet banking also offers this full functionality but the penetration of Internet services is far below that of the mobile phone.

Just short of a year ago, there were headlines that you would be leading a quiet revolution in adopting technology and innovation to drive KCB’s growth. Please expand on this, specifying developments and results in these areas.Revolution is a strong word, but KCB has heavily invested in technology and innovation to drive future growth. The bank has successfully rolled out new services and partnered with several large companies in the region to offer convenience, speed and cost effective services through the use of technology. Using the mobile platform, customers can open accounts, transfer funds to other accounts, other banks and other mobile phones, make utility

payments, borrow, and check account balances. Through agents, customers can open accounts, make

transfers to accounts, mobile and other accounts and banks. They can also make balances enquiries, and

increasingly, our agents’ wide network make them convenient locations for the collection

of funds for corporates. Our Internet banking service

ensures customers can perform a majority of their transactions, with necessary security procedures in place for the various institutions On the card business, KCB has partnerships on loyalty programme card distribution, transit card solutions, and various debit and credit cards. The outlook is for each of these initiatives to fast track the growth of non-funded income lines, grow

customer numbers by over 1 million, increase card use and penetration, and

double mobile utilisation by 1 million.

One of your recent tweets reads: “Looking forward to our new

partnership this July for same day issuance of EMV cards as well as the move to ‘

instant’ carding”. What is this about?

The banking sector in Kenya and the region has migrated to a secure card which is EMV compliant. The migration necessitated the issuance of cards to all the existing 2.5 million customers. In the process, the bank entered into an engagement where the cards are now pre-ordered and only await customisation which can be done on site. This reduces the overall time customers have to wait for new or replacement cards.

In its strategic focus, KCB describes ‘customer leadership’ as one of its five key pillars. What does this mean, and how has it translated for the everyday consumer?

Customer leadership is the backbone of the services industry. Research into our service levels revealed large gaps in customer experiences, not only within the sector but across the country.

KCB has since embarked on various initatives to remedy this:

•A 24/7/365 customer experience centre that offersexisting and potential customers access to the bank and information that can improve overall experience. Queries about the bank, its products, services etc can be offered via phone, web chats, social media, one-on-one interaction and email. Further, for existing customers, complaints are now addressed faster and followed through to the end.

•An electronicqueuemanagement system, introduced toour top25branches,andcontinuestoberolledouttothenext25bytheendof2014.This system enables customers at the branches to pick tickets and for them to be assigned a bank official to serve them in the shortest time possible, while they sit and wait. Thei has not only reduced customer wait times by more than half, but it has drastically improved teller productivity. Beyond service, customer leadership is also inbuilt into the products offered to customers and the convenience and cost of various channels. Being a front runner in channel variety, our customers have sufficient options as and when they decide to transact with KCB.

With customer sentiment being rather shaky across continents, combined with the entry of a few new players into the banking space, the last thing any financial institution wants to hear is bad news about their brand. That is why the battle cry ‘Differentiate or Disappear’ has never been more relevant in the financial sector. A good example - in 2012, UK bank Barclays equipped more than 3,500 of its ATMs with audio instructions for those with sight difficulties. Closer to home (the African continent) – we have Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), which, under the leadership of Joshua Oigara, has created a unique brand personality through constant innovation. The spin-off from KCB is this: the most successful brands anticipate the evolving needs and interests of their target markets, and use these to differentiate their customers’ experience, and engage. This is the subject of our Page 1 interview. On Page 3, Managing Director of South Africa’s MobiMedia, Deseré Orrill, gives an insight into how, as smartphone penetration edges towards domination, brands are developing clever marketing campaigns that exploit the mobile’s potential as a bridge between digital and physical experiences. Also on Page 3 – and in what we believe is a first for any bank in Nigeria – the United Bank for Africa (UBA Plc) recently added an innovative Twitter alert to its transaction banking platform. This will allow the bank provide personalised information – security notices, balance information, transaction confirmations, or other account data – to their clients. The Twitter alert service is an addition to SMS and email alerts, which have become fairly common in recent years. Well done to UBA for differentiating itself by delivering a service through yet another channel already familiar to consumers.

Innovate.Differentiate…or Disappear

Joshua OigaraKCB Group Chief Executive

Officer

Deseré OrrillManaging Director

MobiMedia, South Africa

From the EditorAnne Agbakoba

Phillips OduozaGroupManagingDirector/CEO

United Bank of Africa Plc

www.kcbbankgroup.com

It’s very interesting going through tweets about Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB). On the 27th of February, CEO of Safaricom Kenya, Bob Collymore tweeted: “Congratulations to @JoshuaOigara and his @KCBGroup team for delivering a very impressive set of results. Shows the benefits of innovation”. Hinting again at KCB’s modus operandi, another witty but telling tweet by #DearDoris @arungaian (May 12, 2014) said: “@KCBGroup your mobile banking service is impossibly fast… Please make it slower so that we do not spend all our money. Thank you :)” Prompted by NUMERIS-MEDIA readers, Anne Agbakoba sought out this bank with impressive credentials – to ask questions on the mind of consumers: “what really does KCB have to offer?” Joshua Oigara, KCB Group Chief Executive Officer, responds. Excerpts:

Twitter @numerismediaTel +234 705 300 8894 | +234 1 295 6050

eBankingAfrica July - August, 2014

INTERVIEW

July - August, 2014eBanking Africa

Savour the most distinctive experiences in theworld with the first USD Visa Credit Card from CBA

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time for more

visit www.cbagroup.comCommercial Bank of Africa (Tanzania) Limited

You have said that the mission of MobiMedia is to help brands tell their stories. Please explain this.Brands need to communicate their message to end consumers, to convey awareness of their product or service, stimulate interest and thereby to convince consumers to purchase or try the brand, and ultimately to build to a community of loyal brand users, who serve as ambassadors for the brand. This chain of events takes place through various stages in the marketing cycle and the “story” the brand has to tell leads the consumer along the path to repeat purchasing. It is our objective to assist brands in constructing marketing campaigns which catch the interest of the consumer and which incorporate the right message, delivered via the right channel, in the right way, i.e. to help them tell their story in the best possible way to achieve their goal.

In your opinion, how is the mobile platform changing the nature of the relationship between brand and consumer?Originally media was broadcast based – it was a monologue where the recipient obediently received the messages in the format, via the channels, and at the appointed time, as decided by the broadcaster. Then, with the advent of modern technology like the internet and email, as well as SMS, communication started to take on a different tone – it became more of a dialogue, where the recipient of the communication had the opportunity to provide feedback or to respond. His voice could be heard by the brand of communicator. Things were getting more interesting for the consumer and interesting, as well as perhaps, a little confusing, for the brand. The consumer was starting to feel that he was being heard – good – and the brand was starting to feel that he could build a relationship with his consumer, which is good, too. The dialogue was still pretty much contained, a one-to-one, if you will. And then came social media and the dialogue exploded into a conversation, into multiple conversations. The brand still has the power to seed the conversations through stimulating advertising and clever use of content, but it is now a participant in the conversation and the custodian of the communication flow, not the broadcaster of old. Users comment, share, adapt, co-create and generate their own content – it is a deep seeded desire within all of us to be seen or heard in some small way, to ratify our existence, share our opinions. We’re hungry to be heard. And nothing has enabled the desire for social conversation and communication more than the mobile phone...

[We] assist brands in constructingmarketing campaigns which catch the

interest of the consumer

eBankingAfrica

How is custom content influencing marketing communications? Please give examples of effective campaigns?Working within the African context, one of the most effective and influential communication tools is the mobile phone. In Africa there are around 1 billion cellularphonesubscriptionsonthecontinent.14%ofthese subscriptions are so-called “smartphones” while theremaining76%percentofcellularphonesonthecontinent are what is known as ‘feature phone’. These allow access to the internet via a simple connection, but donothavealltheadvancedfeaturesoftheiphone/android/windowsoperatingsystemsonsmartphonesthat are dominant in developed countries. Therefore it is important to remember that in Africa, rather than rushing out to create the latest application to run a communications campaign, brands should consider using a mobile site (accessible on basic feature phones) as well as the USSD and SMS communication channels for feedback. An example of a brand which has achieved good success with using custom content is Spekko Rice, which has created a great consumer facing mobisite with customised content in the form of recipes, lifestyle tips and video content optimised

for mobile display, whilst incorporating the use of the competition and reward element for maximum effect. Similarly, both MTN and Vodacom are running very effective engagement campaigns offering their subscribers access to customised content via USSD subscription portals.

Deseré Orrill is co-founder of the Ole! Media Group and is currently the Group Chief Marketing Officer, as well as Managing Director of MobiMedia (a mobile engagement company within the Group). A regular contributor to thought leader pieces, she is intrigued by the way in which digital communication is re-defining the relationship between brand and consumer. In this chat with Anne Agbakoba, Ms. Orrill skilfully outlines how the mobile platform has become a catalyst for transforming the traditional marketing monologue into a conversation. Excerpts:

www.mobimedia.co.za | www.olemediagroup.com

UBA – Twitter Notification Alerts

July2014-UnitedBankofAfrica(UBA)introducesasecurecustom application for alerting its customers on transactions… via TWITTER. The service is a value-add, and complements ongoing SMS alerts. This is a first in Nigeria.

Rasheed AdegokeDirector, Information Technology, UBA

Twitter is increasingly becoming a popular

means of communication especially among the

young adults. As a highly innovative bank, we are

giving the Millennials, who are increasingly banking with us an option to get

transaction alerts on their preferred platform

- Rasheed Adegoke(Director, Information Technology, UBA)

July - August, 2014

INTERVIEWTRANSACTION BANKING

www.ubagroup.com