In the week that Barclays Bank rolled out mobile and tablet banking, the bank’s acting Chief Operating Officer, Matshidiso Kereteletswe, has explained that this is another form of responding to customers’ needs.??The mobile and tablet banking service, which went live on Monday, offers bank customers convenient access to their accounts from smart mobile phones or tablet devices.
Kereteletswe explained that the application is offered for both Apple and Android devices.??The customers can access their accounts through a developed application to use Barclays’ online banking services for transfer of funds, account information and utility bill payments.
Currently, the bank’s customers will be able to make payments to Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) and Multichoice, while the bank is negotiating with other utility providers to extend this service to their clients as well.??Designed to provide all retail banking solutions to customers through their mobile phones and tablets, this service offering is an extension of internet banking, which was launched last year. Kereteletswe explained that the new offering brings an added advantage of not confining the customer to a specific location in order to have access to their account.??“We want the customer to move away from the branch and still be able to do banking from anywhere; at a place and time of their convenience as long as it is a cashless transaction,” she said.?
The bank’s Head of Channels, Malebogo Sebusang, explained that mobile banking service, which is a subset of functionalities from internet banking, takes retail banking beyond the PC. She assured that the service is secure, as Barclays has partnered with Apple and Android to ensure safety. She said as a measure to ensure timely response to clients’ queries, a call centre is open every day between 6am – 10pm. After 10pm, all calls are recorded so that the?customers can be called back when the call centre opens. She said the decision to close the call centre at 10pm was a strategic one because it has been noted that at that time calls trickle down.?
The new applications will also allow Barclays staff to pitch sales for different products at the customer’s office, and be able to do the preliminary work of registering for a service such as a loan or insurance.??“If it is a loan application, we should be able to have a decision made at the client’s place. Obviously, this increases convenience for the customer by reducing the turnaround time,” Kereteletswe explained.
She said the new application is an appreciation that most of Botswana’s?population is young, and the youth are techno-savvy.
“We appreciate that the world is running on technology,” she said. “From where I sit, we are on a journey and I am happy with where we are.”
