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First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria's premier and leading financial inclusion services provider, has announced that it has reinforced its technology infrastructure to enable anyone in the country open a FirstBank account through their mobile phones, without visiting any of its branches nationwide.

The investment in the Bank's mobile banking infrastructure is in furtherance of the need to deepen financial inclusion in the country, enabling account opening to be carried out on its *894# USSD banking, FirstMobile (self-service telephone banking), its website – www.firstbanknigeria.com – as well as the Bank's staff, through the Direct Sales Executive (DSE) application installed on their mobile phone, ATMs and the bank's over 55,000 FirstMonie Agents spread across the country. Opening an account with FirstBank through any of these means is seamless, convenient, fast, and user-friendly.

The DSE App is an end to end encrypted mobile application installed on the phone(s) of FirstBank staff which enables them to open an account for to-be customers. Upon the completion of the account opening process via the DSE App, the customer is notified of his or her account number through a text message on the mobile phone used to register the account.

READ ALSO: FirstBank enhances educational sector, supports schools with over N10 billion loan

With FirstBank's *894# USSD banking, various banking activities are carried out on a mobile phone – across the four major GSM network operators in the country – without the use of the internet. To open an account via this means, dial *894# then select 'open an account' to provide the information required or by simply dialing *894*0#. The Bank currently has over 9.5 million of its nearly 20 million customers on its USSD banking platform.

The FirstMonie Agent Banking is an agent banking initiative from the bank that is designed to take banking closer to people, thereby bridging the gap between the banked and unbanked. FirstMonie is a channel through which various banking activities like FirstBank account opening, funds transfer, bill payments, data, and call credit recharge services, amongst others are carried out. The Agent Banking initiative has also contributed to reducing poverty, being responsible for the indirect employment of over 150,000 people across the country.

According to Chuma Ezirim, Group Executive, e-Business & Retail Products, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, "beyond opening an account in any of our over 700 branches, we are delighted with the investments at reinventing our business processes over the years, especially with the use of technology. This has been critical to staying relevant in the industry for over 126 years and being the financial partner of the first choice to all our customers and Nigerians, irrespective of where they are."

Creating these virtual ways of opening a bank account with us – thus; the staff DSE App, ATMs, FirstMonie Agents, *894# USSD banking, FirstMobile and our website – reinforces our resolve to ensure that more Nigerians and residents have access to banking, especially through our state of the art financial services and we remain resolute to being the key to banking, enabling business and financial activities that would continue to propel the country's economic growth and development.

READ ALSO: Nigerian banking stocks remain most liquid stocks, as investors gain N25.1 billion

About FirstBank:

First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) is the premier Bank in West Africa and the leading financial inclusion services provider in Nigeria for over 125 years.

With over 750 business locations and 55,000 Banking Agents spread across 99% of the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria, FirstBank provides a comprehensive range of retail and corporate financial services to serve its over 15 million customers. The Bank has international presence through its subsidiaries, FBN Bank (UK) Limited in London and Paris, FBNBank in the Republic of Congo, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Senegal, as well as a Representative Office in Beijing.

The Bank has been nimble at promoting digital payment in the country and has issued over 10million cards, the first bank to achieve such a milestone in the country. FirstBank's cashless transaction drive extends to having more than 9.5million people on its USSD banking service through the nationally renowned *894# banking service and over 3.5 million people on Firstmobile platform.

Since its establishment in 1894, FirstBank has consistently built relationships with customers focusing on the fundamentals of good corporate governance, strong liquidity, optimised risk management, and leadership. Over the years, the Bank has led the financing of private investment in infrastructure development in the Nigerian economy by playing key roles in the Federal Government's privatisation and commercialisation schemes. With its global reach, FirstBank provides prospective investors wishing to explore the vast business opportunities that are available in Nigeria, an internationally competitive world-class brand, and a credible financial partner.

FirstBank has been named "Most Valuable Bank Brand in Nigeria" six times in a row (2011 – 2016) by the globally renowned "The Banker Magazine" of the Financial Times Group; "Best Retail Bank in Nigeria" for seven consecutive years (2011 – 2017) by the Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards and "Best Bank in Nigeria" by Global Finance for 15 years. Our brand purpose is to always put customers, partners and stakeholders at the heart of our business, even as we standardise customer experience and excellence in financial solutions across sub-Saharan Africa, in consonance with our brand vision "To be the partner of first choice in building your future". Our brand promise is to always deliver the ultimate "gold standard" of value and excellence. This commitment is anchored on our inherent values of passion, partnership, and people, to position You First in every respect.

Folake Ani-Mumuney

Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications

www.firstbanknigeria.com

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• Wealthfront is adding checking features to its cash account — users will have access to a debit card, and can receive paychecks two days early as direct deposits.
• These new features make it possible to use a Wealthfront Cash Account as a hybrid savings/checking account.
• Wealthfront is gradually making these features available to existing clients starting June 3, and the public can access checking features at the end of June.
• See Business Insider's picks for the best high-yield savings accounts »

Until now, you've been able to use a Wealthfront Cash Account to save for short-term or long-term financial goals.

But now you have the option to use your Wealthfront Cash Account as a checking account, too.

Wealthfront has introduced several new features to its Cash Account so it acts as a hybrid savings/checking account. Beginning June 3, Wealthfront is gradually making these features available to existing customers. By the end of June, anyone will be able to access these features.

A Wealthfront Cash Account will include a debit card and direct deposits

Here are the new features available to people with a Wealthfront Cash Account:

• A debit card. Until now, you haven't been able to directly access money in your Wealthfront Cash Account — you've had to wait a few days to transfer money from an external bank account. But now you have a debit card for easier access to your money. Use it to make purchases, or use it at 19,000 ATMs for free. You can also link the debit card to Apple Pay and Google Pay.
• Set up direct deposits to get paid two days early. You can have your paycheck deposited directly into your Wealthfront Cash Account and receive your money up to two days early. Not only is this convenient, but it gives you more time to earn interest. It also gives you faster access to any cash you may want to invest through your Wealthfront Investing Account.
• Pay bills from your account. Use your account information to pay bills online, from your mortgage to insurance to credit card payments.
• Pay friends and family. You can link your Wealthfront Cash Account to PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App.

Although you can't deposit paper checks with your mobile app yet, this feature is in the works.

Your Wealthfront Cash Account acts as a hybrid savings/checking account

Wealthfront's new features give you the ability to use a Wealthfront Cash Account as both a savings and checking account. You can keep all your money with one company — investments, savings, and checking — to make managing your money simpler.

If you're worried keeping your savings and checking all in one account will make it harder to save, then you don't have to use Wealthfront's new features. You have the option to keep using the Wealthfront Cash Account exclusively as a savings account. However, if you want to streamline your banking experience, checking features make it easier to do so.

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