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By Omodele Adigun
After 14 years of dividend drought, shareholders of Wema Bank Plc will this year again smile to the bank as the lender is set to pay third dividend in a row.
This was disclosed in Lagos at the weekend by it’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Mr Tunde Mabawonku, during a Media interface.
According to him, the bank has turned the corner as a lot of work has been done on its balance sheet to make the bank resilient. He also explained that the bank , currently occupying the third position among its peers on service delivery, is now making waves in the digital space.
His words: “Few years ago, we brainstormed on how to change people’s perception about Wema Bank. We told ourselves, first of all, let’s tackle the issue of technology. Next, tackle the issue of performance. A lot of work has gone building the balance sheet and making it resilient. Once we get approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the next few days, we will be praying our third consecutive dividend. This is the Wema that did not pay dividend for 14 years. But in the last two years, we had paid and on track to pay the third so that year-on-year, it would not be the case of would they pay or would think not pay but Wema Bank that consistently deliver returns to shareholders.”
On service delivery, Mabawonku disclosed that the bank has resolved to give the best experience to all those that come into contact with Wema.
His words: “For those that come into contact with Wema Bank, let’s wow them; let’s give them the best experience.There is an audit form call KPMG that does service rating for all banks every year. We started from the bottom when they did the first one.We were number 18 or 19: eventually, we moved to number seven, then went back to number 14.Today, we are the third in terms of service delivery policy on the retail end of the market.Our Target is to be the number one.”
On Wema ALAT, the bank CFO stated that within a couple of years it has become a toast of most bankers due to its innovation.
“A couple of years ago, we have launched the Wema ALAT.typically in all the banks, before you open an account, you have to go to the bank, fill a form, submit your picture, submit everything and then you leave.Later on, you download the bank’s app. But when ALAT came, we change all that.You dont have to go anywhere physically to fill a form to open an account.Do it online, the account is opened. You dont even need to relate with any body physically.That has changed digital landscape in the last four years.
“Anytime experts are coming to make presentations, they use ALAT as the start of their case study.”
