Not imposing charges on customers’ money transfer, card maintenance, a game changer, says Parallex Bank MD, Bakre

.Says discipline, excellence, speed are watchwords.

 

THOMAS IMONIKHE

 

Parallex Bank’s policy not to impose charges on money transfer and maintenance of customers’ automated teller machine, ATM, cards has engendered tremendous good will and contributed largely to its massive growth since it commenced operation less than one year ago.

 

Mr. Olufemi Bakre​, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer MD/CEO of Parallex Bank Ltd, who disclosed this during a courtesy visit to Champion Newspapers, further listed the gains of its cutting edge services including business banking, personal banking, as well as  commercial and corporate banking.

 

He said one of the major goals of the financial institution is to sustain a symbiotic relationship that is mutually beneficial with its teeming customers, adding that banking has gone beyond ‘what is in it for us’ and no longer a game of selfishness.

 

A “bank that is going to be sustained not only now but in the future should be under the umbrella of symbioticism, that is mutual beneficial relationship. At every single episode on the table, you must look at the benefits to the other party before you even consider the benefits to yourself.

 

“When you have that kind of mentality, it gives birth to an everlasting relationship, you have an evergreen handshake in the course of your journey. That is what Parallex Bank is bringing on board and if you look at various aspects of the bank, we have various parameters that can speak to this. We have various products across board. I must also mention that from day one, since there was no legacy issue, we decided to choose an expressive way of banking but the end certainly will justify the means”, he stated.

 

Speaking further, the CEO explained:“So we decided to go digital banking because that is the future of banking. Apparently, a lot went into it in terms of investment and one of the reasons why we didn’t come out early. It was with this modest way that we decided to hit the ground running. That was why we have the belief that we must come out with something unique to put on the table when we come out. If you are talking about  a  bank that is not selfish we have examples to showcase.

 

“For example, if you have our mobile app as our personal banker, even if you make 150 transfers in a month, you don’t pay, we don’t charge you anything. If you are our personal banker, the so called account maintenance charge which is another name for Charge On Turnover, COT in Parallex Bank, it is zero.

 

“If you have up to N100,000 in your current account in Parallex Bank, you can enjoy as much as five percent interest. The question will be: how do you make your money? It is simple, we are preaching the gospel of not been penny wise pound foolish. “For argument sake, all those components that I put together hypothetically, putting a particular client into consideration may not necessarily amount to between N150,000 and N250,000 profit to the bank. But by virtue of what I have offered you in terms of free services, you can feel it and you are delighted with what you encounter and the tendency of introducing me to another customer is there and all these put together, at the end of the day, they make a difference”.

 

Bakre was received by the Group Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Champion Newspaper, Dr.(Mrs) Nwadiuto Iheakanwa who thanked Parallex Bank team for coming and promised to partner as a vehicle in media and advertisement projects of the bank.

 

The CEO also introduced the Parallex Bank delegation to management of the newspaper, his longtime business relationship with the company, most especially with Dr. Iheakanwa and the impressive role Champion Newspaper played during the Bank flag-off in Victoria Island, Lagos early this year.

 

Bakre further unveiled the bank’s varieties of products,  its business focus  and expressed  the willingness to collaborate with the medium  in a symbiotic relationship, taking banking and advertising to the next level.

 

He said, “When I was appointed, as the managing director of the Parallex Bank, my papers were still going through the regulatory process and typically me, like I told my colleagues, I finished my marketing before I resumed. If I recall, I sent a mail to you (Mrs. Nwadiuto) while the exercise was still going on about my porting and to appreciate you for the support that you have given me and looking forward to same going forward. So as a result of that, I sent that mail to you, before the twinkle of an eye, you picked it up with your team and it became a popular news.

 

“It worked for good eventually, and it went viral, Opera News, everywhere and when I say it was an accident, for the fact that it was released before my regulatory approval but turned out to be a blessing in the sense that the various comments by the people that read the report also supported the grace of getting my approval.

 

“So I can’t thank you enough, and if you look at it, we are not talking about relationship in Parallex Bank but talking about partnership. And to put that into perspective, even before the bank became a modestly known brand in Nigeria, since we came out in January, I reached out to you in respect of things we can possibly do together.

 

“I didn’t come with account opening form then that you must have an account because banking has gone beyond ‘what is in it for us’, is not a game of selfishness anymore. A bank that is going to be sustained not only now but in the future should be under the umbrella of symbioticism, that is mutual beneficial relationship.

 

“At every single episode on the table, you must look at the benefits to the other party before you even consider the benefits to yourself.

When you have that kind of mentality, it gives birth to an everlasting relationship, you have an evergreen handshake in the course of your journey. That is what Parallex Bank is bringing on board and if you look at various aspects of the bank, we have various parameters that can speak to this.

 

“We decided to take your path because you have been there, legacy on top of legacy and Champion Newspaper is still a Champion. So in this context, we see professionalism, we took the same path, we see innovation, you can be working without being in the office. We also as a bank decided to follow the same pattern.

 

“And in terms of excellence, we know where you stand and customer centric, you can see that even from generation to generation, you are still a medium to be reckoned with at any particular point in time. And to top it all, you can remember vividly because to God be the glory, hardly I forget things; in terms of collaboration, I could see in you the leader, the pathfinder and a pace setter.

 

“At a particular point in time, there was more like a trouble in this country, when you were navigating, coordinating up to Thisday Chairman, Prince Nduka Obaigbena and others; how you people could possibly be under a particular umbrella, speak as a single voice and mobilize to see the government that be and it was done and done successfully too, that is through the Newspapers Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, NPAN.

 

“So like I said, it is about partnership and the bank that we are presenting here, we are seeking for collaboration. Collaboration in all aspects because if we can do it together at a reasonable or cheaper cost and seamless way, why doing it alone when you know that it is not cost effective? Life has gone beyond that.

 

“So, it is about collaboration and the partnership aspect I said is not only what is in it for us but what is in it for both of us and as management speed is our watchword. Once we have cause to smell an opportunity, that we are interested in, we will ensure we put execution behind it and it must be speedy. We are not a bank that will be dilly dally on issues rather, the moment we commence, that is it.

 

“As a bank, we go the extra mile in every thing that we do. We don’t have a choice any way in view of our newness. But it is not about our newness alone, we also want to ensure that it becomes our DNA in a way that if any other bank is doing it ordinarily, you must be able to see the extra that Parallex Bank is putting on top of it. So, an executive touch is what you are seeing here, that is where you have a relationship and not an opportunity, a right to have seamless access to the managing director 24/7 except when I am sleeping.

 

“In line with that, we know in life generally, where discipline is lacking everything is out of the way, discipline is the watchword so that in a situation where you have an obligation on the table, ensure that you walk the talk, you honour your obligation. That is what we stand for as an institution.

 

“Talking about areas of business focus, retail is still the game, a lot is going on within this particular radar, particularly under the canopy of financial inclusion. We have a unit in that particular area, but we modernized it because we are in a modern world, we came in at the modern time.

 

“We changed it from the popular retail name, we call it personal banking. And the essence of that personality is to ensure there is personalization in the service that we render. And coming back to the Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs which is engine room of the economy, we also have a particular unit taking care of this particular aspect of the business because as they say, the young shall grow, even if they are SMEs today, they will graduate to the next level tomorrow.

 

“We said as a Parallex Bank, we don’t want to wear the SMEs cap as a nomenclature but rather we call it business banking because it is a business that will germinate or grow from one level to the next level.

And we have another unit which is commercial and corporate banking.

Aside from that, at Parallex Bank wherever we have cause to register our footprints, we speak to every body. That brought in the private banking aspect of our business where depositors’ interest is represented.

 

“In this particular area, that is where we take into consideration your kind of profile, I am talking about high net worth profile, high net worth individuals that will require some specific and specialized services not only tailor-made but home delivery services so to say. Such customers  only come to the bank if they chose to, otherwise they don’t have any reason to. And considering your kind of person, we recognize the fact that there are some investments you will like naturally to make that are not domesticated.

 

“So how can we bring abroad services in banking down to Nigeria? We decided to reach out to have foreign collaboration with some institutions abroad. Banking or having a relationship or partnership with Parallex Bank today, you don’t need to get to London before you own a property to let. We have a collaboration locally and a platform that you can ride on to achieve that particular feat.

 

“They do it in a way that it is structured to match your repayment plans whereby the house that they secured for you, the rental proceeds should be sufficient enough to pay the loan obtained so that your cash flow is not injured in any form, shape and manner.

 

“If your child is going to London to school, you can ride on the platform of Parallex Bank also to ensure you have facilitation that may not take you out of Nigeria because we have a collaboration with a institution abroad that can make it happen. If you try to invest beyond the local instruments here, may be Eurobond and the rest, you have a bank that you can partner with to achieve the same goals.

 

“So, in a nutshell what do we represent as a bank? If we have cause to enter an organization, while we are dealing with Champion Newspaper, in terms of your financial needs for example, it could be overdraft, a bridging loan, any kind  of facility and in fact in any form, shape or manner, we have tailor- made services that can satisfy that particular needs in that particular unit.

 

“We are saying that in Parallex Bank, we also have well packaged  work place value proposition for the work force. If anybody is on your payroll, you don’t need to secure that person’s loan, they have their entitlements that will qualify them to ask for facilities from the bank without any collateral from you. The only collateral we require, is a confirmation that they are in your payroll.

 

“We are speaking to the fact that in any organization we deal with, we must also add value where the workforce will see that organization as a valuable one and as an organization that cares. So how can you possibly liaise with a bank to make sure you have that?. We have also factored that and the private banking aspect is to cater for those with high profile executives in that particular organization.

 

“We have various products across board. I must also mention that from day one, since there was no legacy issue, we decided to choose an expressive way of banking but the end certainly will justify the means. So we decided to go digital banking because that is the future of banking.

 

“Apparently, a lot went into it in terms of investment and one of the reasons why we didn’t come out early. It was with this modest way we decided to hit the ground running. That was why we have the belief that we must come out with something special to put on the table. If you are talking about  a  bank that is not selfish we have examples to showcase…

 

Continuing, he said, “We have seen a situation where retail banker like you, Champion Newspaper gives a referral with a pool of funds in terms of millions of Naira that eventually come to our bank. We also took into consideration up coming generation. This is a bank where you can create your unique account number on your own and when we are talking in terms of complaint, you don’t need to call again, you simply press a button and it is solved from our end.

 

“And the most importantly, it is not a gospel that we are preaching today because we have seen people in the past that preached similar or more fantastic gospel that at the end of the day, they are unable to sustain same. But what we are saying in Parallex Bank, is that everything we are putting on the table today becomes automatic DNA that will be running in our blood from time to time. I can’t do less because my life is about service, about relationship and my life is about partnership and so to say with my colleagues”.

 

Earlier, while welcoming Mr. Bakre and his team, Dr. Nwadiuto described the visit as an eye opener adding that there are unique services of the financial institution that were hitherto under reported citing the non-payment of charges by customers on money transfer as one major incentive that should be well publicized.

 

According to her, “You know when you came into the market, we did some reportage on it but I am just imagining a bank where you can put in your money without these COT and other charges will not be imposed. It means a lot to the ordinary customer especially the low income earners, it is the best thing ever that any customer would like to hear now…

 

“This meeting frankly we were looking forward to it and I am glad with what you mentioned because I have known you for long and I am not surprised at what is happening at Parallex Bank. You have a passion for excellence. I know you were in FCMB, but there was something unique about director Bakre back then.

 

“Banking was at your fingertip and permit me to describe you as the whiz kid of banking. So, these  innovations we are hearing are not surprising to us because we know that there must be something different since you are involved in Parallex Bank and we need to make some noise even about COT and other charges.

 

“That will be so attractive. You know what is going on in the economy right now, we private individuals and even government, everybody is going through stress with the crises in the world. People who don’t understand it will say they want to jet out of the country but I always caution them, that wherever you are going make sure a job is waiting for you there because you don’t just leave this country unplanned.

 

“I also want to thank you for believing in Nigerian banking. If you wanted a job at the World Bank, you would have gotten it  and you were in the United Kingdom for a while. We were very happy about your appointment as the managing director and I thank God that the bank is moving forward.

 

“I am pleased that you brought  some members of your team here; do consider us your media partner and mouthpiece. I am the publicity secretary of NPAN, there is nothing by the grace of God you want in the media, whether mainstream or otherwise that we cannot help you publicize because I know that there should be some kind of synergy between us and your bank.

 

“And as for Champion Newspaper, we are there for you, willing and ready to partner with your bank and we will help you advertise your products. News is free, you can bank on us and we want you as the M.D. and the bank to succeed.”