By Fola James
The managing director of Ecobank Group, Ade Adeyemi, has described the closure of 114 branches as one of the best decisions taken by the conglomerate, noting that the bank still operate more branches than other commercial banks in the country.
Recall that the group’s chief executive recently announced that the bank will no longer invest in bricks and mortar, meaning that the DMB will invest more on digital platforms to provide banking service to customers.
Speaking to Nairametrics, the Ecobank CEO said the closed branches were no longer making profit, adding that they were merged with other branches in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s approval.
“Yes, we closed 114 branches. We still have about 250 something branches remaining. So, having 250 branches is massive when you consider the branch network that the rest of our competitors have. That is the first thing.
“The second is the idea of using agency network as a means of being able to distribute banking services to people. The third thing is the idea that digital platform is now going to continue to be the preferred method of delivering banking services to people as we go forward into the future.
“Those are the things that informed our decision and some of these branches were not profitable. Some of them were weak and that was the basis on which we made the decision to close those branches and merge their activities with some other branches that exists in agreement with our regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
The Ecobank chief said the Nigeria economy will recover from recession next year, blaming the COVID 19 headwinds for the contraction. He explained that more efforts are needed to get the economy back on tract, but that “Nothing should be taken for granted, the government and the people still need to act in a way that is supportive of those growth expectations. So, we think that Nigeria will go back to growth in 2021.”
