Challenge
First Bank of Nigeria needed a cross-border payment platform to connect its seven African subsidiaries and enable seamless inbound and outbound transactions. They turned to FinCode to make this vision a reality.
Solutions
FinCode developed the First Global Transfers (FGT) platform, enabling seamless inbound and outbound payments across FBN’s seven subsidiaries. Integrated into FBN’s mobile app, the platform offers First Bank’s customers various payment options and a secure, scalable system to send and receive money.
Results
The FGT platform fostered interoperability between FBN subsidiaries, enabling seamless intra-subsidiary transfers and reducing costs. It offered customers convenience, security, and an affordable cross-border payment experience.
First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), a leading commercial bank with operations across several African countries, faced a significant challenge.
With subsidiaries spanning both anglophone and francophone regions — especially, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria — the bank envisioned a seamless intra-African cross-border payment platform that would enable customers to send and receive payments both within their home countries and across FBN’s network of subsidiaries, creating a unified system for financial transactions across borders.
Challenges
Through this project, FBN aimed to expand its money transfer services beyond Nigeria to the entire African continent. Such a move promised to offer customers unparalleled convenience to send and receive money across regions where First Bank operates, unlock significant revenue and solidify the bank’s position as a key player in the African financial ecosystem.
However, building such a robust and scalable cross-border payment platform required advanced technological expertise. Furthermore, navigating the varying compliance regulations, currencies, and languages across anglophone and francophone regions presented additional complexity.
To this end, FBN turned to FinCode, a trusted financial technology partner with a proven track record of delivering cutting-edge solutions tailored to Africa’s unique market dynamics.
Solutions
With a reputation for delivering innovative financial technology solutions, FinCode was tasked with developing a platform that could handle cash pickups and bank transfers across all seven of FBN’s subsidiaries. The solution had to accommodate both FBN customers and non-customers, providing seamless access to cross-border payment services within and beyond the bank’s network
FinCode built and deployed the First Global Transfers (FGT) platform, a cutting-edge intra-African cross-border payment switching solution. The platform enabled both inbound and outbound payment disbursements across FBN’s operational countries, allowing users to send and receive money effortlessly. It featured various payment options, including cash-to-account, cash-to-cash, cash/account-to-mobile, and online money transfers to fit customers’ preferred payment method.
In addition to building the platform, FinCode conducted in-person training sessions for FBN staff. These sessions equipped their team with the skills to onboard users and empowered tellers to leverage the platform to assist customers effectively. FinCode also ensured that the FGT platform met high standards of security, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness while offering features such as:
- Instant Payments: Transactions are processed within minutes and are available in the recipient’s local currency.
- User Flexibility: Available to both walk-in and bank customers, ensuring broader adoption.
- Transparent Fees: The sender bears the charges upfront, with no hidden costs for beneficiaries.
- Ease of Deployment: Cloud-based architecture ensures scalability, supporting unlimited concurrent users.
- Global Potential: The platform can be deployed globally and integrated with any banking system, paving the way for agency banking operations in the future.
FinCode developed the FGT platform with world-class backend architecture, designed to simplify the management of FBN’s money transfer services. Key features included:
- Multi-tenancy for managing multiple subsidiaries in various countries.
- Support for multi-currency transactions and currency conversion.
- Multi-language capabilities to serve both anglophone and francophone regions.
- Multi-channel support, enabling use across branches, web, and e-channels.
- Robust accounting and settlement systems, ensuring transparency and efficiency.
- Modular design for accounts, collections, payments, and funds transfer management.
Result
The success of the FGT platform further proves FinCode’s unchallenged command of successfully executing bespoke financial technologies for ambitious businesses. FGT transformed First Bank of Nigeria’s cross-border payment services, driving significant growth for the bank. It unlocked new revenue streams by facilitating seamless inbound and outbound transfers across its seven subsidiaries, creating a robust payment solution.
For First Bank’s customers, FGT provided unmatched convenience and security, allowing them to send and receive funds through a self-service platform. Competitive service charges further enhanced the platform’s appeal, making it a preferred choice for individuals and businesses alike.
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