Mr. Obeahon Ohiwerei is the Group Managing Director/CEO of one of the fastest growing financial institutions in Nigeria, Keystone Bank Limited.

In this interview with INTERNATIONAL BANKER MAGAZINE, UK, the banking guru speaks on the achievements of the bank in the last few months since assuming office. In less than one year of AMCON’s divestment from Keystone Bank, the lender has experienced tremendous transformation in all ramifications. Aside revamping all its branches across the country and bolstering its workforce, it has invested substantially in technology and developed fully integrated service models that enable customers access banking services through a wide range of channels. The bank for the quarter ended March 2018 recorded a profit before tax of N3.72bn, compared with a loss of N2.79bn over the same period in 2017. Excerpts.




Keystone’s stated vision is to “set the pace in financial services delivery, creating utmost value for our stakeholders”. What exactly do you mean by “setting the pace”?

The statement referred to above is actually our former vision statement and as part of our re-engineering process it has since been replaced. Our current vision is “to be the preferred platform for delivering convenient and reliable financial solutions”.

In doing so we shall consistently leverage people and technology to deliver superior customer experience and enhanced stakeholder value.

In my view, the word “preferred” takes us above the fray; it elevates the discussion beyond traditional metrics of balance sheet size, asset base and the like, which are still important to us.

However, it commits us to delivering such excellent service in all we do that customers repeatedly trust us, desire to do business with us and are always willing to give us the benefit of the doubt.



The bank’s Pink Account is a special account for women that gives access to an online digital-marketing network, among other features. What made you believe that such a service was needed?

In its Financial Inclusion Overview updated April 20, 2018, the World Bank noted that “around 2 billion people don’t use formal financial services and more than 50% of adults in the poorest households are unbanked”. http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialinclusion/overview

In Nigeria, multiple surveys by EFInA Access to Financial Services confirm that about 36.9 million adults are financially excluded, of which 57.9% are female while 42.1% are male. Against this backdrop, the Central Bank of Nigeria has in recent years actively pursued a holistic financial inclusion strategy across the country http://www.efina.org.ng/assets/DidYouKnow

On our part, the Pink Account is designed to meet the needs of our female working class and SME customers and provides such benefits as access to attractive loans, customized electronic debit cards and access to discounts from partner stores while the pink network is an online forum that empowers our female entrepreneurs with free mentorship and capacity building sessions.\



Women from different walks of life can network, share ideas, inspire each other and develop mentor/mentee relationships on www.PinkNetwork.ng while the Pink Marketplace www.marketplace.pinknetwork.ng provides an e-marketplace where they can buy, sell and advertise for free



We noticed that your corporate-banking division has a sector focus on oil and gas trading. How significantly has Keystone’s earnings been impacted by the slump in oil and gas prices over the last three years or so?

In reality the negative headwinds on the sector were two-fold;

Globally, increased output both from shale oil in the US and OPEC countries impacted negatively on price while domestically the federal government prioritised its re-engineering program in the sector to plug income leakages and improve overall accountability

This additional level of scrutiny though laudable, brought with it a major downside risk to the banking sector in general, with the recurrent spectre of delayed payments to oil marketers and their resultant inability to effectively service their loans

Prior to this, Keystone Bank had significant loan exposures in the petroleum downstream sector and a strategic decision was taken to consciously wind down these exposures and diversify actively into other trade sectors.

Overall, while the slump in oil prices had some impact on our earnings, our cautious and largely bearish approach to risk asset creation in the sector moderated this as well



Keystone Bank has recently partnered with CeLD Innovations Limited, a Cash Reward as-a-Service Company, to launch the product CashToken. What are the main benefits of this product?

At Keystone Bank, we already know that today’s businesses are not only susceptible to technology disruptions but are under a bigger threat when they fail to place a premium on their share of the consumers’ “emotional equity”

Across all sectors, consumers are forcing the narrative that achieving customer-centricity is no longer a differentiator, but a key determinant of business survival or leadership.

This informed our partnership with CELD to launch the Cash-Reward-as-a-Service product named the “CashToken” which can be won by: New & Existing Customers that activate accounts on our Mobile App or USSD and actually execute at least 5 Fee-Earning Transactions (Instant Transfers & Bill Payments).

Active customers who maintain a minimum balance of N10,000 at least 30 days to their birthdays.

Both customers of Keystone Bank and non-customers that do at least three (3) transactions on our ATMs.

Active customers can win between N5,000 and N100,000,000 at our periodic draws as well as access General & Health Insurance Benefits subject to specified terms and conditions.

Furthermore, agencies of government can also leverage the Cash Token to incentivize conscientious tax and related statutory payments



As I understand, Keystone aims to partner with more than 50,000 SME sector players as part of its strategy to become the fastest growing retail bank in Nigeria. How exactly does the bank go about partnering with such a large number of companies?

Globally, SMEs are established drivers of even the strongest economies and Nigeria cannot be an exception. With over 15million SMEs dotting the Nigerian landscape, we are poised to ensure our customers in this segment actively grow their businesses through our partnerships and focused initiatives in the segment.

We shall continue to partner with the government and other developmental agencies in making intervention funds available to the segment.

Our SME proposition is the “Growbiz Account” with three variants that address their cycles of growth from infancy through maturity and stability.

We are also empowering SMEs through our Agency Banking initiative by signing them up as agents for basic off-site cash-in/cash-out services

READ MORE HERE: http://witnessngr.com/how-we-transformed-keystone-bank-in-less-than-one-year-md-ohiwerei/