Coop Bank Digital Banking: The Co-operative Bank has fast emerged as one of the most digitized lenders listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. This has seen the bank grow its loan portfolio as well as its total customer base.
At the same time, the bank has shifted a larger percentage of its banking services online and to its Co-op banking agencies. For instance, through a multi-channel strategy, the bank has successfully moved 93 percent of all its customer transactions to alternative delivery channels.
This has seen the bank expand its 24-hour contact center and mobile banking unit. Today, the bank has over 576 ATMs, internet banking, and over 25,000 Co-op Kwa Jirani banking terminals.
“A successful Universal Banking model and the implementation of Sales Force Effectiveness has seen the Co-op Bank group serve over 8.8 million account holders across all sectors,” said Co-op chief executive officer Dr. Gideon Muriuki.
According to Dr. Muriuki, the bank’s key focus on digital banking has seen the all-telco Mco-op Cash Mobile Wallet contribute immensely to the growth of non-funded income. For instance, in the half-year financial period ended June 30, 2021, the Mco-op Cash app had 5.2 million registered customers. Out of this, the bank was able to disburse Sh. 33.5 billion. This averaged Sh. 5.6 billion disbursed loans per month.
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“Over 127,760 customers have taken up the MSME packages that we rolled out in 2018, and over 13,015 have been trained on business management skills. To date we have disbursed over Sh. 28 billion to MSMEs through our E-Credit solution,” said Dr. Muriuki.
He added that Co-op Bank’s unique model of retail banking services through Sacco FOSAs has enabled it to provide wholesale financial services to over 479 FOSA outlets and issue over 1.4 million Sacco-Link cards.
In tandem with its digital growth, Co-op has seen its profitability defy a touch economic period to register growth. For instance, in the half-year 2021, the bank reported a half-year net profit of Sh. 7.4 billion.
This came as the bank recorded a gross profit of Sh. 10.5 billion from the Sh. 9.6 billion recorded in the second quarter of 2020. The net profit realized by the bank was a jump from the 7.2 billion reported in second quarter of 2020.
It’s total assets grew by Sh. 59.1 billion to Sh. 573 billion compared to Sh. 513.9 billion in the same period last year. Net loans and advances grew by Sh. 29 billion from Sh. 272.2 billion to Sh.. 301.2 billion.
With digital banking growing, it is becoming easier to manage high risk merchant accounts.