Moses Uwagbale
The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria Centre for Financial Studies, (CIBN) has said that there was an acceleration of digital customer services and interactions in 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis.
CIBN President, Mr Bayo Olugbemi, made the disclosure at the seventh virtual National Economic Outlook themed, “Implications for Businesses in Nigeria in 2021.”
He noted that digital customers’ experience accelerated in the banking sector despite the COVID-19 disruptions.
Olugbemi was represented at the programme by Prof. Pius Olanrewaji, CIBN Second Vice President.
According to him, a report by Mckinsey and Co, indicated that digital customers experience accelerated in the banking sector despite COVID-19 disruptions.
“Several reports detail the fact that the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the digitisation of customer services, appetites, and interactions,” Olugbemi said.
He explained that the report showed that average share of customer interactions that were digital increased globally to 58 per crnt as of July 2020 from 36 per cent in 2019, resulting in greater efficiency.
” The report further indicates that in the case of remote working, companies moved 40 times quicker than they thought possible before the pandemic,” Olugbemi said.
He said also that despite the disruptions, the year had diverse opportunities, and businesses were forced to rethink their operational and strategic models towards digital transformation and innovation.
The CIBN president listed the challenges experienced by the disruptions to include an oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, remote working, ongoing second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest and the second economic recession.
Olugbemi, however, advised stakeholders to tackle issues affecting the country by acquiring vaccinations against COVID-19 virus.
He also tasked the stakeholders on the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, ensuring growth of the Nigerian economy out of the current recession and the implementation of the 2021 national budget, among other issues.
He stressed that if the issues were not tackled, there could be more questions and challenges as the country moved deeper into the new decade and new year.
