Ahead of the yuletide season, Nigeria’s premier and leading financial inclusion services provider, First Bank of Nigeria Limited had announced the expansion of its diaspora remittance network to ensure that customers and the public at large are at an advantage in receiving money from anywhere in the world, irrespective of where they are, across the globe. With the expansion, funds can be accessed from close to 200 countries. Courtesy of the Bank’s over 750 branch network, individuals in expectant of funds from abroad, remain at an edge in receiving that extra fund to add more glamour, buy that extra gift and generally celebrate the Christmas and New Year with a bold smile and in memorable ways.
FirstBank pioneered international money transfer services in Africa’s largest economy by partnering with Western Union International, the first-ever International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) in Nigeria. This partnership ensured Nigerians evolved with global diaspora remittance practices, as the Bank introduced US Dollars Payout in 2002, an initiative that has now been adopted by many other financial institutions.
Keen on easing the challenges by many Nigerians to make instantaneous oversea payments and support their wards studying abroad with stipends, FirstBank once again reinvented itself and introduced an outbound service in 2014 spearheading an avenue to promote Person to Person (P2P) transactions such as feeding allowances to students abroad, support, payments, and do so just-in-Time on a global scale.
Since the Central Bank of Nigeria introduced the ‘CBN Naira 4 Dollar Scheme’ on March 8, 2021, FirstBank’s expanded network of International Money Transfer Operators’ include new entries like Wari, Smallworld, Sendwave, Flutherwave, Funtech, Thunes and Venture Garden Group with Western Union, MoneyGram, Ria, Transfast, and WorldRemit being amongst its already existing IMTOs. Interestingly, recent investigations revealed that efforts are underway by FirstBank to have more IMTOs onboarded to provide seamless service to its esteemed customers.
Speaking on the Bank’s expanded network of International Money Transfer Operator (IMTOs), Mr. Gbenga Shobo, the Bank’s Deputy Managing Director said, “at FirstBank, expanding our network of International Money Transfer Operators is in recognition of the significant roles diaspora remittances play in driving economic growth such as helping recipients meet basic needs, fund cash and non-cash investments, finance education, foster new businesses and debt servicing. We are excited about these partnerships, as it is essential to ensure our customers are at an advantage to receive money from their loved ones and business associates, anywhere they are, across the world.”
To put things in perspective, in 2020 alone, FirstBank processed diaspora remittance valued at N100 billion while in total, the bank served over one million customers across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria
It is important to mention that FirstBank also launched an Auto Creation of USD Account following changes in remittance policy to ensure diaspora remittances sent to recipients’ Naira accounts are automatically credited into their USD Accounts. At FirstBank, customers determine whether they want their USD as cash or directly into their accounts.
Over the years, FirstBank has received several awards and recognition for promoting and leading the forex remittance charge in Nigeria.
To mention a few, FirstBank won the “Fastest Growing Money Agent Award” in 2010; MoneyGram’s “Highest Receiving Agent in Nigeria and the Most Compliant Agent in West Africa”. In 2016, MoneyGram recognised the bank as the “1st Agent in West Africa & 2nd largest Agent in Africa to process transactions that generated a revenue of $10 million on the MoneyGram platform”.