90% Of Co-op Bank’s Transactions Happen On Alternative Channels

The Co-operative Bank of Kenya says that 90 percent of all its customer transactions happen on alternative channels such as ATMs, mobile banking, and Co-op Kwa Jirani platforms.

Currently, the bank has a 24-hour contact center, fully functional mobile banking, 584 Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs), 17,700 Co-op Kwa Jirani agents, as well as internet banking.

“A successful Universal Banking model and implementation of sales force effectiveness have seen the Group serve over 8.8 million account holders across all sectors,” says Co-operative Bank in a statement.

The bank says it is focusing on digital banking, with all-telco Mco-op Cash Mobile Wallet that is “continuing to play a pivotal role in the growth of non-funded income with 5 million customers registered and loans worth 42 billion shillings disbursed in the first 9 months of 2020.”

According to Co-operative Bank, over 110,000 of their customers have taken up the MSME packages that were rolled out in 2018. “8,950 have been trained in business management and planning.”

The bank says that it has earmarked 15.2 billion shillings for MSME lending, with 14.8 billion shillings that have been disbursed to date through the E-Credit solution.

“Our unique model of retail banking services through Sacco FOSAs enabled us to provide wholesale financial services to cover over 479 FOSA outlets, and issue over 1.4 million Sacco-Link cards,” said the lender.

The Co-operative Bank of Kenya reported 9.8 billion shillings for the third quarter of 2020. The bank’s profits are resilient and much higher as compared to peers who have registered large declines in profits.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected various sectors including financial institutions with most of them reporting a drop in profits. All commercial banks, including Co-operative Bank of Kenya, had to restructure their loans to cushion customers against the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As at the close of the third quarter, a total of 46 Billion shillings in loans have been restructured to support customers impacted by the pandemic,” Group CEO Gideon Muriuki said in a statement.