Union Bank to Expand Agency Banking Network

Union Bank of Nigeria Plc has said it will continue to expand its agency banking network to complement its operations and to also increase financial inclusion in Nigeria

The bank also said it recently concluded a corporate social responsibility project to support individuals contributing towards reducing economic hardship and fallout of COVID-19 pandemic across Nigeria, by giving out a total of N15 million.

Speaking with journalists during a virtual media parley over the weekend, the Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing at Union Bank, Mrs. Ogochukwu Ekezie-Ekaidem, said the bank plans to increase its agency banking nationwide.

She said: “Agency banking is a critical piece of how we are growing our network and channels and we are focused on it. Our agency banking footprint continues to grow at this time and we are very much focused on growing that network to reach more customers across the country.”

Furthermore, speaking on the ‘Rise Challenge,’ concluded recently, she said: “We launched the rise challenge about five weeks ago which was popular and successful across online channels we received nearly 1,200 entries of people who were doing great things within their communities.

“Every week we selected 10 of those stories and rewarded them with N250,000 and we had 40 winners over four week which is a total of N10 million.”

She added: “In the face of this pandemic people are still resilient and putting their best foot forward and trying to rise above the challenge and we are very proud of them.”

Meanwhile she said the bank would continue to focus on reaching more of its customers through its electronic channels as well as through the agency banking network which according to her is critical to its operations.

Also speaking on its continuous support for the educations sector, she said: “We had identified the education sector early on as an area that needed intervention because there were issues before the pandemic and now that we have the pandemic it is a different level of challenges. “Globally, education is going through an evolution given the pandemic and everyone form first world to third world is grappling with what education will look like going forward.”

“Here in Nigeria, we have some fundamental issues before we can talk about what the future will be.