Nigeria’s leading financial inclusion services provider, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, has announced proactive measures it has taken to control the spread of the COVID – 19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.
The Bank’s Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Folake Ani-Mumuney, said “embedded in our corporate strategy is business continuity management that ensures the delivery of products, services and initiatives to our stakeholders and enabling the economy in the long-term with minimal impact.
Therefore, we have employed necessary measures to keep our employees, customers and the general public safe-guarded and sensitised on preventive steps to flatten the curve at the fastest possible rate. These include the deployment of temperature measuring tools; hand sanitisers; face masks and adopting social distancing including utilizing virtual meetings. We have also cancelled owned and partnered planned events in the interim; suspended staff travels and have put measures in place to identify and communicate to staff who are arriving from affected countries to self-quarantine following the established protocols by the World Health Organisation and the government.
In addition, we have been amplifying all necessary official information from relevant health bodies and partners such as encouraging everyone to adhere to good hygiene practices which comprise regular cleaning of all surface areas – for example, tables, door handles – with disinfectants, consistent washing of hands as well as avoiding close contact with people and staying away from crowded environment’’.
Encouraging the use of cashless transactions, Mrs. Ani-Mumuney said; “we implore all our customers to embrace cashless transactions across our self-service platforms like *894# USSD banking services, FirstMobile, WhatsApp Banking, First Online for their needs like funds transfers, various bill payments, credit and internet data recharge and much more. In need of quick loans, these self-service platforms are also designed to meet their immediate needs through our FirstAdvance service”.
For enquiries and complaints, customers are encouraged to contact the Bank’s 24 hours multi-lingual customer care centre, FirstContact, on 01-4485500 or email, firstcontact@firstbanknigeria.com.
She noted that the Bank is committed to protecting the health and safety of all its staff, customers and host communities as together the fight against Coronavirus would be won.
The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) should be reached on its Toll-Free Number: 0800 9700 001 for immediate medical attention and advise.
First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) is the premier Bank in West Africa and Nigeria’s leading financial inclusion bank for over 125 years.
With over 750 business locations and 44,000 Banking Agents spread across 99% of the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria, FirstBank provides a comprehensive range of retail and corporate financial services to serve its over 15 million customers. The Bank has international presence through its subsidiaries, FBN Bank (UK) Limited in London and Paris, FBNBank in the Republic of Congo, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Senegal, as well as a Representative Office in Beijing.
The Bank has been nimble at promoting digital payment in the country and has issued over 10million cards, the first bank to achieve such milestone in the country. FirstBank’s cashless transaction drive extends to having more than 8.5million people on its USSD banking service through the nationally renowned *894# banking service and over 3 million people on Firstmobile platform.
Since its establishment in 1894, FirstBank has consistently built relationships with customers focusing on the fundamentals of good corporate governance, strong liquidity, optimised risk management and leadership. Over the years, the Bank has led the financing of private investment in infrastructure development in the Nigerian economy by playing key roles in the Federal Government’s privatisation and commercialisation schemes. With its global reach, FirstBank provides prospective investors wishing to explore the vast business opportunities that are available in Nigeria, an internationally competitive world-class brand and a credible financial partner.
FirstBank has been named “Most Valuable Bank Brand in Nigeria” six times in a row (2011 – 2016) by the globally renowned “The Banker Magazine” of the Financial Times Group; “Best Retail Bank in Nigeria” for seven consecutive years (2011 – 2017) by the Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards and “Best Bank in Nigeria” by Global Finance for 15 years.