The United Bank for Africa Plc, on Thursday announced new offerings aimed at deepening the face of digital banking in Nigeria as part of activities to mark the 6th anniversary of its flagship artificial intelligent Digital Assistant and Chatbot popularly known as Leo.
Since its launch on January 11 2018, Leo is nolonger just a technological asset but as an innovative transformative assistant that has had a profound impact, on the Nigerian and African financial industry.
A statement by the group said UBA remains the first financial institution in Africa to introduce a digital solution to ease customer transactions at the time when it became necessary in a fast-paced world when customers demanded quick-time transactions and response.
From its inception, Leo’s footprint, it said, has been unmistakably impactful, as the Chatbot – which first began operations on WhatsApp, Instagram, Apple Messages and Google Business Chat and other social media platforms. Through these platforms, it has positively impacted the lives of millions of users across the continent, driving financial inclusion, modernising banking and bridging the financial gap that existed.
Leo’s services will be even broader and better, the bank assured, following new investment in first rate cutting edge technology that will further deepen customer experience on Instagram and Google Business, terrains none of its peers can lay claim to.
Explaining the latest upgrades, UBA’s Head, Digital Banking, Olukayode Olubiyi, pointed out that UBA customers indeed agree that Leo is one of the bank’s biggest investments in cutting-edge technology and has been steadily changing the face of banking on the continent.
For him, “six years later, and with over seven million customers, UBA’s Leo, has without a doubt, remained unequalled as the smartest Banking Chatbot in Nigeria because of its speed and quick learning intelligence and has continued to evolve with so much more to offer its constantly growing customer base.
“While other financial institutions are still trying to find their feet as regards Artificial Intelligence, at UBA, we can proudly say that Leo has become a massive success as it continues to consolidate on its successes and accolades winning several awards as testament to its unparalleled qualities and effectiveness,” he stressed further.
Reeling off Leo’s achievements over the last six years, Olubiyi said it has been effortlessly enhancing the digital customer experience in banking and also achieving a range of other benefits like 24/7 availability as the chatbot stays available round the clock to assist customers and handle the common financial queries asked by the customers.
He added that the AI BoT activities has spanned across the bank’s operations in 20 African countries, garnering huge accolades and over 17 prestigious awards globally.
“With this in mind, we have ensured that, Leo continues to enjoy periodic and systematic upgrade with special emphasis on enhanced advancements and specialised unique features where necessary”, he stated.
The uniqueness of Leo, the statement explained further, lies in the convenience as customers can initiate transactions without leaving their favoured phone applications, and by bringing Leo to the comfort zone of its customers, UBA’s chat banking became a pioneer innovation and has since enjoyed leadership status in the chat banking space.
