Alex Otti: Signature Bank to Redefine Banking Landscape, Deepen Financial Inclusion

James Emejo in Abuja

One of the latest entrants into the Nigerian banking landscape, Signature Bank, has launched its commercial operations, promising to deploy unique services that are expected to deepen Nigeria’s financial inclusion and target over 40 million unbanked and underbanked population.

Speaking at the official launch of the bank at its headquarters in Abuja, its founder, Mr. Alex Otti, said that the deposit money bank will do things differently and seek to redefine the industry and impact the lives of customers through seamless access to financial services while leveraging flexible digital solutions and tailor-made services.

Dignitaries present at the bank’s take-off included the Canadian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Christoff, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo, former GED, Finance and Accounts NNPC, Mr. Stanley Lawson, Director Banking Services, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Samuel Okojere, among others.

Otti said the bank will fill the customer experience vacuum that other banks have left unmanned, adding that the birth of Signature Bank was driven by a yawning gap created by repeated unresolved complaints, poor responsiveness, and unsavoury customer experience encountered regularly from the banks he and his colleagues did business with.

He said, “It came from a yearning for simplicity and ease of doing business and a less than adequate attention to the dynamic needs of the customer, not just within Nigeria, but across continents. For example, paying your child’s school fees, trading with partners overseas, settling bills without leaving the comfort of your home, and making payments seamlessly. Interestingly, even as banks’ strategies, products, and service offerings multiplied, the changing demographics and dynamics had customers increasingly yearning for more and demanding simpler and more flexible digital solutions.”