Absa Bank of Kenya #ticker:ABSA will spend Sh1.6 billion this year on digital innovations such as automation of loan top-up and cash deposit machines as lenders bet on technology to grow profits.
Absa, in response to shareholder questions, says it wants to enhance customer experience through significant investments in innovations.
This will mark another year of investing in new technologies after the 2020's Sh1.3 billion expenditure.
“This year we are investing a further Sh1.6 billion in over 60 different technology projects, all aimed at transforming our customer experience. Some of these include automation of our loan top-up process,” said the lender.
Automation will allow customers with existing loans to apply and get to top-ups within 15 minutes.
Absa will also be rolling out cash deposit machines, agency banking and a fully-fledged online business banking platform in the coming weeks to tap into the changing customer tastes and preferences.
“We want to make it as easy and as fast as possible for our customers to do their banking. We have no doubt that in so doing, we will position our business for growth and ultimately give you better returns,” the lender told shareholders.
Absa Bank Kenya in mid-March 2018 launched a virtual banking product dubbed Timiza that allows customers to access loans and pay utility bills using their mobile phones.
The lender discloses in latest annual report that it last year issued more than 700,000 loans valued at Sh8.2 billion through Timiza platform which has 4.3 million customers.
Absa Bank Kenya net profit for the first quarter of the year increased 23.7 per cent to Sh2.42 billion on the back of growth in net interest income and end of separation costs from Barclays PLC.
Its net interest income rose by six per cent to Sh5.96 billion in line with increased lending as loan book expanded by 7.5 per cent to Sh218.3 billion.
Its bottom-line was boosted by the absence of one-off Sh552 million that was booked in the previous quarter as part of separation costs from London’s Barclays Plc.
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