KENYA – Absa Bank Kenya yesterday celebrated its one-year anniversary in the Kenyan market with a commitment to significantly invest towards transforming customer experience.
The bank announced that it plans to invest over US$14.6 million in technology to enhance service delivery.
Speaking at a media briefing at the bank’s Queensway branch in Nairobi, Absa Managing Director Jeremy Awori noted that delivering a different customer experience remains at the core of the bank’s Growth.
Awori said that in 2022, they will be rolling out over 60 different technology projects, all aimed at transforming our customer experience.
Some of these include automation of our loan top up process, a first-in-the market move which will enable our customers apply and get top ups on their existing loans within 15 minutes, and at the touch of a button.
“We will also be rolling out a fully-fledged online Business Banking platform in the coming weeks among other exciting innovations across our business segments,” Awori said.
The bank embarked on a brand transition four years ago and set out to fully transform the business into a truly customer-obsessed organisation.
“As we celebrate our one-year anniversary, we recognize that the pandemic continues to threaten the survival of small and medium businesses which are major sources of employment and account for about 40% of our Gross Domestic Product,” he added.
‘’We are committed to supporting women in business particularly those in the SME sector, with a campaign that we hope to run across the entire Sub Saharan Africa’’
Jeremy Awori – CEO, Absa Kenya
“As a business we are committed to supporting women in business particularly those in the SME sector, with a campaign that we hope to run across the entire Sub Saharan Africa,” he emphasized.
On his part, Absa Kenya Chairman Charles Muchene thanked customers, stakeholders, employees, and the public for walking with Absa through the rebranding journey, posting an optimistic outlook for the coming year.
“I am optimistic about the future; our business is well capitalised, and I am confident that we are well positioned to surmount the challenges presented by the pandemic. We have been through many economic cycles in our 104 -year history and we are positive about an improved performance this year,” Muchene said.
Last year, the bank instituted different financial relief initiatives across its different customer segments to help customers navigate through the effects of the pandemic.
This initiative included loan relief and restructures valued at over US$566.6 million which is equivalent to a third of the lender’s credit portfolio, covering over 59,000 accounts.
For SME customers, the bank offered specific capacity building programmes to equip them with the necessary skills to overcome the challenges presented by the pandemic.
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