DIAMOND BANK LEADS THE MARCH INTO THE MOBILE BANKING WORLD



In an economy like ours, you can’t stay ahead in your business without a bank like Diamond Bank. The Uzoma Dozie led bank has continually razed ahead of others . One of such “Moses parting the Red Sea” moments is the Diamond Bank’s revolution in mobile banking. Diamond Bank like manna in the desert, gave us the Diamond Mobile App which boasts of the turbo charged Touch ID. Mark Zuckerberg said, “technology must enhance human ability”. The Diamond Mobile App does exactly that in a very fast way.

Touch ID
The tech savvy will know that since the debut of iOS 8, banks in other climes have long adopted the Touch ID for banking activities but here in Africa it still sounded like Rocket Science until a bank that puts its customers first like Diamond Bank broke the jinx. Now, you can actually do business with the power of your fingerprint, that is if you have a Diamond Bank account and uses an iPhone. iPhone 5s , iPhone 6 and 6 plus, the latest IPad Air 2, IPad mini 3 are all equipped for Touch ID. The Touch ID is available on Diamond Mobile App.
What this means is, users can now enable Touch ID to gain quick and more secured access to their accounts. You no longer have to memorize passwords, your fingerprint will do the magic. Nobody except your fingerprint can access your account. Even if your phone is stolen or your partner wants to play smart, it won’t work because your ID only recognizes your fingerprint. Three failed logins will require the customer to manually enter a passcode.
Are you an Android user? awww don’t worry, Diamond Bank is cracking the rocks to create a path for Android lovers too.

Chikero Online’s Pas Chikero paid Diamond Bank’s top of the top a visit at its Head Office at hi ghbrow, Lekki area of Lagos . Chikero spoke with the Head of Transaction Banking, Rob Giles. Read full interview below:

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Let’s meet you

My name is Rob Giles, I am the Head of Transaction Banking in Diamond Bank. Transaction banking has to do with everything that concerns digital and payment base in the non-bank, cards, ATM, Mobile, Money transfers and of course Mobile Apps.

A lot of people complain of getting counterfeit currencies at ATM, not Diamond Bank ATMs, how do you make sure that doesn’t happen In Diamond Bank?

In Diamond Bank, one of our core pillars is best people, so it starts with people. I f you don’t have the right people there is a problem. We make sure we have the right people. We invest in topnotch training for our people. From operations perspective, we make sure that we don’t only invest in checking cash and checking notes before they are loaded, we make sure we have full control in the branch environments over ATM being opened and being closed. We use only reputable international partners to service our ATMs. From the Central Bank angle, even if things go wrong, there is a very robust dispute resolution process so within 72 hours the Bank will resolve your complaint. We also make it easy for our customers to lodge their complaints if you don’t want to go to any of the branches, you can lodge your complain online via DiamondOnline.Com, you can send us an email or even a live text. The contact center, which I also manage, pick up phone (calls) 24/7. So we invest into the right system to make sure that if a customer complains it doesn’t get ignored.

Mobile Banking is still novel to Nigerians. Thank goodness for smartphones but not everybody knows how to do banking transactions with their phones. For first timers, what is Mobile Banking?

This is about our remote access channels whether it is mobile, internet or call center, we want to serve the customers in a way that suits them. First of all, Africa isn’t behind in mobile banking, Africa is probably the leading example, if you go to the UK, the US people are always talking about the Empesa of Kenya in Mobile Banking. I have seen in USA big multinational banks advertising for customers to clear their checks in the bank. In many ways the mobile phone has allowed African banks to leapfrog some of the technology and legacy system that are in place in the old established banks and put banking in the hand of the customer. Our strategy in banking is simple, banking isn’t really something most customers look forward to doing in the traditional sense of going to the bank. In fact, to those living in Lagos, going to the super market is a hassle, going to bank is a hassle. I only go to the bank to make a transaction to get cash to do something else. May be I want to remit fund to somebody else or trying to get movie ticket for my wife so we are saying that the bank is not a place you go to, it is something that you do. We put it in the hand of the customers to make the choices. It is about hassle free banking, it is about quick banking.

On security, what are the firewalls Diamond Bank has built to prevent hackers from hijacking customers’ account?

First of all, Mobile banking is very secured. It has to do with something you have, something you never let out of your site which is your phone. It also has to do with something you know which is the PIN. The App is synced with an individual device, if you download the Mobile App, you can’t register my details on your phone. The phone is a personalized device and that is a security measure. The second layer of security is the PIN, which the customer chooses themselves and, now, of course, IOS devices that uses fingerprints offers the Touch ID. It is very difficult to have somebody’s device and know their PIN. In addition, at the background of the banking system, we know the customer’s spending behavior, so , if suddenly a customer’s transaction is going out of the ordinary, we will know and we will contact the customer. This goes to all our channels whether it is the cards or ATMs, transfers, we allow the customers to set their own limits on the transfers they want to do.

Going further, is there any measure to prevent tech savvy criminals from getting information from my device if stolen maybe to study my spending behavior and follow the pattern?

Not at all. It will be impossible for them to get that detail because the beauty of the Diamond Mobile App is, it is just six mega bites so there is nothing stored on the application. It is like a window into our banking system. From the security perspective it is great.

Diamond Bank has the bragging right as the first African bank to introduce Touch ID into banking in Africa, what informed the leap?

Accessibility in banking is core to what we do, we have a digital strategy. We want banking to be what our customers do without inconveniences. If you have an Apple device and it is from 5s upwards, it is pretty likely that you are logging in with your Touch ID and that you are logging into your iTunes with your Touch ID, you are confirming your App downloads with your Touch ID. It is in line with doing what customers are already familiar with without inconveniencing them, so we have to be part of that. Within fraction of a second you have access to your account to purchase or do any transaction online. We did it really for customer convenience. It is about speed, it is about convenience. And of course it is good to be first!

Is it possible to scan theprints on the home button, use it to recreate a customer’s finger print and control the customer’s account as some pundits say?

We say we are the first in Africa but we are not the first in the world, go to big banks in the UK and America they have been using this in their day to day service to their customers . Secondly, everybody is using Touch ID for their iTunes and even the new Apple Pay is using the same technology so it is being used for many other transactions. Biometrics is already huge in Nigeria, you see it in your bank verification number. The standards that are already being adopted in the industry are about Touch. At the end of the day, it falls back to how often do you lose your phone? Even if your phone gets stolen, we have software in the background that will pick up unusual activities. You can call and stop that device any moment in time. iPhone offers the Find Your iphone feature, you can block the account and also we require a second authentication when it is a financial transaction taking place. We still confirm with your additional PIN at the point of remitting fund outside of the bank so we are very happy with security.

Finally, what is the hope of Android users in terms of Touch ID?

This latest App release wasn’t about Touch ID, it is about increasing the speed of performance. It is releasing new features into the Mobile App so when Touch ID becomes a popular form of authentication on Android devices of course we will get that but the Mobile App is not about the mode of access, we are trying to make it easier for customers to get access into the Mobile App. That is why we have the Fingerprint, Touch ID. We allow customers to download the App themselves, to re-register when they are making use of it in a new phone. You can use your debit card to register so we make it accessible but it is not about the accessibility, it is about the features in the App. You can go online and send air time to anybody, you can buy movie ticket, flight ticket right there on your App, you can find out what event is happening and get tickets for it, book movie ticket and even watch the trailer all on the App. These are what you get from the Mobile App whether you are using an Android device or an IOS device. This is about the bank enabling you to do what you normally do without moving out, in the comfort of your arm chair.

What is the next big thing Diamond Bank is gunning for after this?

There is a lot more to come. You probably have noticed what is happening to the ATMs. The look and feel of the ATMs and the branches are looking a lot more like what we have on the Mobile App. A uniform look and feel to mirror a bright and accessible Diamond Bank.

- See more at: http://www.chikeroonline.com/diamond-bank-leads-march-mobile-banking-world/#.dpuf

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