NIGERIA – Polaris Bank Limited, a commercial bank based in Nigeria, has disclosed in a statement the launch of a new digital bank.

The bank said this was necessary with the rising opportunities in the e-payment systems accelerated by the COVID-19.

“Feelers indicate that the bank’s new digital bank, which has for some time been in test mode among its staff and customers, is set to grow its market share, targeting a new generation of digital natives and immigrants who are socially and financially aware of innovations in self-service and stress-free transactions,” according to the statement.

“According to industry players, the long wait which greeted the launch was to ensure that the platform is robust enough to meet prevailing global standards and support other existing entities in the digital banking ecosystem.”

The bank said as part of its enterprise transformation initiatives, it had overhauled its information technology infrastructure within the last two years and upgraded its digital capability.

“This has seen the institution grow to earn the confidence of the banking publics, as it has been able to offer quality banking services at the cutting edge of technology.”

Innocent Ike – CEO, Polaris

“This has seen the institution grow to earn the confidence of the banking publics, as it has been able to offer quality banking services at the cutting edge of technology,” Polaris Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Innocent Ike, said.

Polaris’ digital bank offered services not readily provided by competitors, the statement said.

It said some of such benefits included access to instant loans, accessing the platform service without being a prior customer of the bank, and end-to-end account opening without entering a physical bank.

According to the statement, one of the competitive benefits of the bank is its creation of a collaborative ecosystem that enabled Application Programming Interface banking.

It explained that API banking referred to a system that makes a bank’s services available to other third-party companies via APIs.

“API banking helps both banks and third-party companies augment their complementary specialties and offerings more than they can provide to their customers by themselves,” it stated.