With the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), deposit money banks (DMBs) are wooing customers with cash prizes, foreign trips, and gift items via promos that are fast defining the next level of competition. From Skye Bank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), United Bank for Africa and Fidelity Bank to Diamond Bank, lenders are turning customers to millionaires and home owners, writes COLLINS NWEZE.
Call it rewarding loyal customers, or new form of wooing customers, banks have now found a new ground to bring more customers into their deposit net. The reward schemes, coming in the form of promos, are equally turning lucky and loyal customers to instant millionaires.
Skye Bank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), United Bank for Africa (UBA), Fidelity Bank and Diamond Bank are many of the lenders that are giving out hundreds of millions of naira, houses, and other gift prizes to their lucky customers.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which backs the exercise, said there is nothing wrong with such exercises provided the lenders follow set guidelines that are based on transparency and integrity of the reward schemes.
Speaking on the rising spate of promos in the industry, CBN Deputy Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, said such promos are allowed, and remain ease way to woo customers into the financial sector.
He said such reward schemes can also promote the CBN’s financial inclusion drive and make banking more interesting for customers.
For instance, 10 lucky customers of the UBA have won a three-day all expenses paid trip to Kenya as part of its MoneyGram/ Western Union Awoof promo while 40 other customers of the bank have also won various consolation prices like LG Home theatres, Dstv decoders with one year subscription among other items at the raffle draw of the second edition of the promo held in Lagos.
The winners emerged from customers that sent and received MoneyGram and Western Union money transfers through the bank within from January 25 to April 30.
Group Head, Consumer and Digital Banking, UBA, Anant Rao said the promo was to reward their customers and appreciate them for using the banks services. He said the lender wants to connect more with their customers, simplify consumer experiences using technology to make banking easier to their customers.
Equally, when FCMB set-out to execute its 30th anniversary promo, the bank did not fully appreciate the social responsibility value the exercise would present as a life-saving and changing opportunity. What an observer described as an intervention has directly provided a platform which ministered timely aid to Nigerians, including the underprivileged beyond gender, religious and geographical location and limitation.
Even after several weeks of taking delivery, the newly married, Oluyomi Victor Temidayo is yet to come to grips with the fact that he has now become the proud owner of a brand new Hyundai ix35, full option jeep, courtesy of FCMB Promo
He was just going about his business when a call came through to his telephone line. Reluctantly, he picked only to be intimated by the voice on the other end, that he had won a brand new jeep courtesy of a customers’ promo conducted nationwide by the FCMB.
Like most of the other winners, Oluyomi’s initial reaction was one of doubt and suspicion. Somehow, he followed up on the call and reported at an FCMB branch as directed. The long and short of it all, is he truly emerged as one of the winners of the series of mouth-watering prizes put up by the bank to reward loyal customers. So today, he cruises around in the SUV.
“Any time I am driving round in this vehicle now, people always stop to admire me. Some people wonder whether it is real, I tell them yes, it is real,’’ he said.Temidayo who operates in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy, described the process which saw him and five others, winning SUVs for their decision to bank with FCMB as very transparent, urging FCMB to sustain the promo and its generally good ethical banking practices. Other beneficiaries include Dangero Adamu from Kebbi, Udo-Afa Gabriel Udoh in Calabar; Ajitena Saidat Mojirike, in Ibadan; Unuarhe Onovughe Francis in Warri as well as Abubakar Adamu from Gombe.
Udo-Afa Gabriel Udoh, another winner of an SUV in the FCMB Millionaire promo, had only been an FCMB customer for three years, but has been running his account consistently.
“I think they are a very good bank to rely on. I saw sincerity in the process, even when I was not there, I was called from Calabar to pick the car in Port Harcourt.”.
Incidentally, Udoh is a lecturer at the University of Calabar, and he added that the possession of the car, has no doubt further enhanced his social status, and for this, he thanks the management of First City Monument Bank (FCMB).
If today, you were to wake Williams Onyemaechi Onwubuike, who resides in the Abuloma area of Port Harcourt in Rivers State from a deep sleep, he would not waste time before declaring to you that any day, FCMB is a bank of first reckoning, in terms of general banking services and also in view of the level of the transparency surrounding the bank’s promo which has made him a millionaire.
Onwubiko said, “if I should award them marks in terms of transparency, I should say 101 per cent. I was not even there during the promo; not even aware that a promo was taking place. They only called to alert me that I had won. And lo and behold, it was true, and my money was instantly given to me with ease”.
The promo held across the 26 Zones and three Regions of the bank nationwide. The draws were executed through electronic selection of winners. Three lucky customers of the bank were rewarded with N1 million at the Regional draws, while five others went home with other fantastic gifts such as generating sets, LCD television sets, DVD players and consolation prizes at the zonal draws.
The main drive of the promo was to encourage a savings culture and drive financial inclusion through the provision of rewards and prizes. At the end of the first phase of the promo, a total of 402 customers won prizes such as three Hyundai IX35 Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), cash and other gifts.
According to the bank, three lucky customers of the bank were each rewarded with the star prize of N5 million, while three others won N1 million each at the regional draws held in Lagos, Uyo (Akwa Ibom state) and Abuja. A total of 640 other account holders of FCMB went home with LED televisions, generating sets, decoders, tablets, smart phones and other consolation prizes at the zonal draws held in different parts of the country. The winners emerged at the electronic selection exercise which took place across the three regions and 26 zones of the bank nationwide.
At the Abuja/North draw, Adamu Oseni received N5 million for emerging as the star prize winner, just as Dorcas Terfa received N1 million. But the winners at the South-East/South-South draw were Mr. Peters Emmanuel who won N5million and Oke Owhubetine who smiled home with N1million. In all a total of 1,932 winners emerged during this particular FCMB Millionaire Promo through the three draws in the season.
The Senior Vice President/Divisional Head of Retail, FCMB, Olu Akanmu said: “We are excited to once again reward our customers for their patronage and loyalty’’. Our customers are the reason why FCMB exists and as a Bank that is committed to continuously satisfy their needs, this promo is to further show appreciation to existing and potential ones by expanding the reward opportunities that the promo offers them’’.
FCMB promos have resulted in increased customer engagement largely due to the simplicity built into the participation logistics and the level of transparency that has always characterized the exercise.
One Okafor won the star prize of N5 million at the Lagos/South-West Regional draw which took place at Matori in Lagos, while Odulawa Tolulope received N1 million. At the Abuja/North Regional draw held in Abuja, Umaru Augustine emerged as the star prize winner of N5 million, just as Aikay and Franscisca Oduoza (a joint account) smiled home with N1 million. In the same vein, Eke Michael won N5 million at the South-East/South-South draw held in Enugu and Stella Taribi was rewarded with N1 million.
The bank has said that beyond the various prizes that it provides winners, the promo also presents an opportunity to encourage savings culture, financial inclusion and ultimately empower customers.
“We have more positive offerings in various developmental stages for our customers. We therefore urge the general public to seize the opportunity of the current promotion to commence a relationship with us so as to benefit from our various rewarding and empowering initiatives,” Mr. Olu Akanmu who drives the Retail Division at FCMB reiterated.
With the first draws of FCMB Millionaire Promo Season 3, around the corner, the Bank’s customers are excited as many look forward to emerging winners. This season which runs till November, 2016, is open to customers to non-customers of FCMB and members of the general public who can open accounts with the bank with specified amount saved. They are all to open accounts with the 33 year old financial institution that has endured. This deliberate corporate social responsibility exercise, as informed by an official of the Bank is one of the many ways FCMB adds to the nation’s socio-economic development.
For the current promo, individuals would need to increase their savings account balance by N50,000 and maintain it for 30 days to stand a chance of becoming one of the four customers to go home with N2 million each at the grand draws. Or customers can increasing their savings accounts by N10,000 and maintain it for 30 days to stand a chance of becoming one of the 12 customers to go home with N1million each or any of the consolation prizes at the regional draws.
During the sixth and last draw for the Fidelity Bank Save-4-Shelter promo draw held in Lagos, the bank’s Deputy Managing Director, Alhaji Mohammed Lawal Balarabe said savings is the hallmark on which great economies are built and urged bank customers to embrace savings culture.
The bank chief, who phoned and congratulated the star prize winner, Ibedu Clara Ego, who won a duplex in Lekki, Lagos, under the Save-4-Shelter promo, said the redemption of the prize shows that the lender keeps its words.
“The Save-4-Shelter promo was conducted with high level of integrity. As a bank, we always keep our word. Our promos always focus on things that add value to the lives of people and the society,” Balarabe said. He disclosed that the lender will soon unveil another new promo that would equally benefit its customers and create wealth for beneficiaries.
Deputy Director of the Consumer Protection Council, Joshua Nggada, praised the banks for conducting the promo and the draws, with integrity and transparency.
