Sterling Bank & Clickatell partner for chat banking solution
By Pavithra R
Sterling Bank, a full service national commercial bank in Nigeria, has announced that the bank has collaborated with Clickatell, a global leader in mobile communications and chat commerce, and launched a unique and personalized banking experience for existing customers and prospective account holders through the popular messaging app, WhatsApp.
The launch enables customers to initiate bank transfers, perform airtime and bill payments, check balance, BVN enquiries, as well as statement generation directly on WhatsApp with the aid of Kiki. Kiki, is a new personalized financial assistant that connects customers directly to customer service and manages disputes seamlessly. It possesses conversational intelligence and answers questions related to personal finances once prompted. Kiki makes initiating banking transactions easy through the bank’s verified WhatsApp number – +234 906 000 6449.
“Delivering banking on WhatsApp for instant messaging is desirous by our customers who want a reliable, convenient, and safe medium to perform basic banking transactions on their mobile devices. It eases the stress of moving between apps before transactions can be concluded,” said Oladipo Alabede, Group Head of Digital Banking at Sterling Bank.
“WhatsApp has improved security that prevents fraud and enables customers to have access to all their accounts. The service is designed for self-service registration and the customers can sign-on from any location. The current features of the app include Sterling to Sterling and Sterling to other banks’ transfers, airtime top-up, bill payments, balance enquiry, BVN enquiry and statement generation, among others,” added Alabede.
Customers who wish to get started should follow three steps:
- The customer would have to save the mobile number +234 906 000 6449 as a contact named “Kiki.”
- Customers should start a conversation by typing “Hi,” “Hello” or “Hey,” among others, and sending the message to Kiki.
- The customer should agree to the terms and conditions by sending “I AGREE” followed by the account number to Kiki. Thereafter, an OTP will be generated in the registered mobile number for validation. The customer is also expected to set a transaction PIN using his/her debit card.
“We are pleased to help Sterling Bank enable chat banking on WhatsApp, making banking services available to its customers anytime and everywhere on a channel they use daily. Chat banking is the future of financial services with bank customers preferring the channel for conducting routine banking, as it is fast, simple, and secure. We are proud to be leading this shift in financial services, along with customers like Sterling Bank,” said Samson Isa, Director, West Africa for Clickatell
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