Opportunity Int’l Takes A Giant Step In Mobile Banking

Barely few months after launching mobile banking, Opportunity International Savings and Loans (OISL) has enrolled over 25,000 of its existing clients onto the mobile banking platform. 

The new service by name ‘Opportunity Mobile’ is a secure, simple, fast and reliable mobile phone banking service which grants  customers access to their Opportunity account through their mobile phones with the short code *717# irrespective of their mobile network.

The ‘Opportunity Mobile’ is one of many innovative products and services introduced by OISL to offer convenient banking experience to their customers.

‘This is something our customers asked for during our annual client satisfaction survey. As a financial institution that takes customers feedback seriously and respect their needs, we are working tirelessly, keeping abreast with the new trend in banking to offer the best of products and services to delight our customers’, Mr. Kofi Obeng-Berkyaw, Chief Operations Officer said in an interview. 

‘All the innovations that we have put in place over the past few years are in fulfillment of our promise to deliver innovative products and services that truly meet our clients’ needs. We will continue working hard to deliver exceptional services to our customers because they are the reason why we are in business. We are looking into the future where clients will even repay their loans via the Opportunity Mobile platform. Mr. Obeng-Berkyaw noted.

He added that, customers who lived far from branches could do all basic transactions on their phones in the comfort of their homes and workplaces without coming to the   banking halls. The functionalities of Opportunity Mobile include: Air time top up, Balance enquiry, Funds transfer, Mini statement, Change Pin, Block ATM Card and Payments among others.

Mr. Samuel Afful, the Chief Finance Officer who also doubles as the Deputy CEO, projected that the rapid growth in mobile banking enrollment is most likely to help the institution reach out to 500,000 customers by the end of 2016. 

This will surely impact positively on revenue, through enhanced efficiency and its consequent reduction in costs. Deposit growth for the first half of this year has been impressive with total deposit balances of GHS108.4 million as of June 2016 compared to GHS 85.5 million in June 2015.

This is an increase of 27% over a period of one year, an evidence of value growth from these technological investment and initiatives underpinned by a strong focus on the customer.

By leveraging on technology, Opportunity International has been able to maximize operational efficiencies. This has been done in conjunction with an expansive national branch network comprising 44 Branches and Agencies, 4 fully equipped Mobile Vans, 19 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and several Point of Sales (POS) devices located across the length and breadth of Ghana.

Remittance services such as E-zwich, MTN Mobile Money, Money Gram and Western Union, Ria Money Transfer, Transfast Worldwide Money Transfer, Samba International Money Transfer and Top Connect Limited Transfer are also available in all Branches and Agencies. This is a big step in providing a one stop shop for customers in accessing these services from all locations of the Institution.  

Indeed, Opportunity International Savings and Loans plays a vital role in enabling financial inclusion in Ghana and its dream to reach one Million customers by 2020 is on course with technology as the game changer.