The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has disclosed that transactions done in the physical bank branches in the last three years averaged less than 10 percent compared to over 90 percent on virtual channels.
This was disclosed by the Deputy Governor, Central Bank Of Nigeria, Mr. Shonubi, Folashodun, who was speaking on a topic titled ‘Bank Branches and the Future: The Regulator’s Perspective’ at the Digital Summit, organized by Inlaks in Lagos recently.
He said the ratio is a confirmation that digital and virtual banking has taken over the financial services industry in the last few years.
Speaking further, Folashodun noted that even though available figures indicate that more customers are using digital channels, with transactions moving closers and closer to customers with the adoption of various channels, certain transactions due to complexity still require some form of physical contact.
He said the Bank Branch channel a customer decides to use is dependent on social consideration relative to the complexity of the transaction. For instance, a highly complex transaction like a Trade transaction will require physical documentation & verification compared to a transfer that only requires customer’s authentication.
According to him, the chart shows, over 20 percent of branch transfers are done by corporate who only contribute less than 10 percent of virtual channels transactions possible due to the complexity of their transactions.
“What the data does not tell us is that social considerations could influence a customer’s choice. Community and acceptability remain critical in the customer’s decision, which may be influenced by available Infrastructure, culture and legal/regulatory framework in place define what is required for certain transaction types,” he added.