On the 20th of March, the premier bank of Nigeria, FirstBank commissioned its fourth fully automated branch. These fully-automated branches, also known as FirstBank Digital Xperience Centres (DXC), are innovative banking centres designed to give customers 24/7 digital self-service experiences devoid of unnecessary human interaction. The first Digital Xperience Centre by the bank is located at Victoria Island. The second centre is at the campus of the University of Ibadan (U.I), the third at FirstBank Wuse Branch, Abuja and this fourth centre (second in Lagos) is housed at the Biporal Limited building in the upscale neighbourhood of Banana Island.
In his opening speech, the CEO of FirstBank, Adesola Adeduntan lauded the work Biporal has been doing and commended Mr Odukoya kehinde Olusola the General Manager of Biporal, for the mutually beneficial relationship the company has built with FirstBank. He also spoke about the reasoning behind opening these centres, stating that the bank’s goal is to always excite their customers and improve their experiences.
“For us at FirstBank, we care about being woven into the fabric of the societies where we operate and being an integral part of it. What we’re commissioning today is a world-class digital experience centre where customers will have the opportunity to carry out banking transactions without any human intervention. Our focus is to continually delight our customers and allow them to be able to transact in the comfort of their homes but if they choose to interact with us at a branch, we believe we should give them a world-class environment and platform to transact from.” He said.
Over the last 130 years, FirstBank has led the charge for financial inclusion by pushing the envelope of what is possible in banking. The bank has continued to impress its customers by leveraging technology to constantly innovate.
In line with its vision to offer customers a fully-automated digital experience, when you step into a Digital Xperience Centre you will meet an interesting “Branch staff” who will help with any of your needs. FirstBank DXCs are manned by humanoid robots attending to customers. These robots are AI-enabled, understand speech, they help customers with things like video banking if one ever needs to speak to a human representative. They can also help with handling non-financial transactions needs like updating one’s account, requesting an ATM, and more.
Besides AI and video banking, customers using the DXC can also request and print their own ATM cards in under 3 minutes. They can deposit physical cash to their account or another person’s account at these centres, deposit cheques, make transfers both within and outside FirstBank, hotlist/block their ATM card and hardware token, and do so much more without human intervention.
According to Callistus Obetta the Group Executive for technology, digital Innovation, and services at FirstBank, the edge of these Digital Xperience Centres is that users get access to the complete suite of banking services FirstBank offers and they get this wrapped in an elevated and premium banking experience. “At the core of opening these digital centres is FirstBank’s commitment to continue to provide seamless personalised banking services to our customers. The uniqueness of this digital experience centre is that it brings together the best of physical and digital banking services to customers in a very welcoming and ambient environment,” he said.
With the explosion of fintech and AI services globally, FirstBank’s Digital Xperience Centres help its customers in Nigeria access world-class innovative services in their own backyard. These innovative centres are tailored to meet both the banking needs of tech-savvy customers and those who still prefer traditional methods of banking. According to Callistus, before building these centres, the bank takes into account the locations where their customers will benefit the most from these experiences. Security is also taken into account so customers can feel both physically and digitally safe to stop by and conduct transactions.
With the combination of its mobile apps and these DXCs, FirstBank customers are stepping into a future where banking is so convenient and efficient, they may never have to interact with another human to access financial services. According to Adeduntan, FirstBank plans to open five more centres in 2024. Ultimately, the goal is to continue to cater to the evolving needs of customers by leveraging technology to create state-of-the-art services.
