Michael Opira, the Chief Operations Officer at Housing Finance Bank
Over the last ten years, there has been a steady shift in banking and financial services from the conventional channels to a more digitized service offering. This shift has been accelerated further by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created an increased demand from customers for remote and alternative methods of accessing financial services.
The shift, however, is not new to Housing Finance Bank which begun its investment in digital transformation years ago with an aim of creating more value for its increasingly youthful and tech savvy customer base. In 2015, Housing Finance Bank introduced mobile banking and went ahead to introduce Internet Banking and Agent Banking in 2019. At the Beginning of 2020, the bank delivered a corporate internet banking suite to the business and institutional customers, further augmenting their access to remote banking services which saved them a lot of time and money.
According to Michael Opira, the Chief Operations Officer at Housing Finance Bank, along with innovation, the growth of Housing Finance Bank has been achieved through deliberate focus on the needs of the customers, and through skilling the staff to deliver the superior services that customers expect.
“Housing Finance Bank is now in the phase of its transformation where we are putting customers even more at the center of the business. We understand that demographics have changed and most of the customers are now tech savvy and demand convenience. Banking must be on the go. It must be faster and yet secure. Technology has changed over time and it has changed how we deliver services to the customer.”
It is considering these insights that Housing Finance Bank has structured itself to provide innovative solutions to be ahead of the changing needs of the customers. This is being done by investing in future looking core banking solutions and new technologies like Artificial Intelligence to offer additional value to customers. Additionally, the bank is currently collaborating further with FinTechs and other technology stakeholders while packing the mobile banking and online banking channels with more value-added services to be able to meet the needs and exceed the demand of customers.
Regarding the internal stakeholders, Opira notes that Housing Finance Bank is in the process of re-engineering internal processes in order to reduce touch points which create bottlenecks and affect turnaround time. He adds that there is a deliberate effort to invest more in the staff through trainings and empowerment to be able to support the changes and implement the evolving vision of the bank.
