Seven banks make N8.58bn fresh investments in software

A total of seven Deposit Money Banks reported fresh investments worth N8.58bn in software in the first three months of the year in order to deliver seamless banking services to customers.

Findings by The PUNCH showed that in the first quarter of the previous year, the same banks spent N8.22bn on computer software developed within and outside the country.

The banks surveyed are Access Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (the parent company of Ecobank Nigeria) and Jaiz Bank Plc.

Experts note that software, which forms a critical asset of the financial institutions to carry out transactions and protect customers’ funds, is usually upgraded every four to five years.

Commercial banks in the country have increasingly deployed technology to ease banking transactions, with many of them recently introducing chatbots on their social media platforms, including banking services on WhatsApp.

An analysis of the first quarter unaudited annual reports of the banks ending March 31, 2018 showed that the software procurement spending of Ecobank was the highest during the period, recording N4.32bn in the first three months of the year.

This amount represents 495 per cent of its increase in software investment as against N725.4m in the first quarter of the previous year.

To drive digital banking services, Access Bank deployed new software worth N2.62bn, against N2.57bn in the first quarter of the previous year.

Zenith Bank’s investment of N1.41bn in software in the first three months of the year reduced by 16 per cent compared to N1.68bn in the same period of 2017.

The GTB’s software purchase dropped by 97 per cent from N2.73bn spent in the first quarter of 2017 to N86.79m in the first three months of this year.

Jaiz Bank, which invested N139.33m in the procurement of software in the first three months of 2017, reported a reduction by 57 per cent in software spending (N59.39m) from January to March 2018.

According to the Sterling Bank’s financial statement, N7m was invested in procuring new software in the period under review as against N45m in the first quarter of 2017.

 The FCMB’s spending on computer software dropped by 76 per cent from N329m in the first quarter of 2017 to N78.64m in the three months ended March 31, 2018.

 The Managing Director, BCX, an end-to-end digital solutions company, Mr Ayo Adegboye, attributed the huge investments in banking technology to a change in customers’ behaviour as a result of an increase in Internet penetration, smartphone and technology adoption and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s cashless policy.