UBA: it is United Bank for Africa, but how does it unite with customers in Nigeria?

ENIOLA ILORI

United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc is one of Africa’s largest financial institutions with operations in 19 African countries and three global financial centers; New York, London and Paris.
With well over eight million customers, and 700 offices across the globe, UBA is obviously a leading brand in Africa, and beyond. Its claim of being Africa’s global bank is not just rhetoric; it is largely a statement of fact. But how does this bank conduct its affairs in Nigeria? How does it attend to its numerous customers? Business Hallmark visited a few branches in Lagos to ascertain.

IYANA IPAJA BRANCH
Our first point of call was the Iyana Ipaja branch, located at Iyana Ipaja Road opposite the NYSC Camp. It is your typical UBA branch; medium parking space, good enough for about 12 vehicles on the average.
Standing outside is a well dressed security guard, who was handy to provide assistance to those that might have issues getting inside or those who can’t use the ATM machines on their own. There were three of such machines close to the entrance, all were dispensing cash. Each had a queue of about 13 customers and it took an average of 4 minutes to withdraw cash.
Inside, the branch has a medium size banking hall with with four staff on the counter. The customers were sizeable, about 25 in number, and it took an average of 5 minutes to attend to each.
There were two customer care representatives seated at the ground floor and attending to customer’s complaints. It has two clean conveniences at the upper floor close to the operating room, butno water dispenser insight.
OBA AKRAN 1
From Iyana Ipaja,we proceeded to Oba Akran where there are indeed a cluster of UBA branches. We proceeded to check the first, the Oba Akran branch 1.
Here, what could serve as parking space is just a little lot in front that takes about four vehicles. There were two ATM machines at a corner, beside the entrance. Both were dispensing cash and it took each customer about 5minutes to complete a transaction.
The banking hall here is quite large. There were four uniformed staffers across the counter attending to a handful of customers. It took about 5 minutes to attend to each.

There were three customer care representatives also seated at a corner attending to the customers. They were attentive and devoted about 7 minutes to each customer.
Here, there is a water dispenser stocked with disposable cups. The environment was neat and tidy. Their convenience was hidden somewhere on the upper floor, behind some offices. You might need a map to locate it, if you do not wish to ask your way around, but like the rest of the environment, it is clean and sparkling.
OBA AKRAN 2
This branch is only a stone throw from the first branch and not too far from the third either. Unlike the first, it has a big parking lot that can take several cars at a time. Entering inside the bank was a big ATM gallery before making your way into the banking hall. With the big ATM gallery, there were just two ATMs and each one of it was fixed at the extreme end of each side and both dispensing, taking a customer 5 minutes to complete their transaction. There was a private security personnel inside the banking hall.
The banking hall is of big size, very spacious and can accommodate many customers at ago. This branch is well organized and very conducive for banking. All the staffs were well dressed and friendly. There were four Tellers at the counter, on their well fitted UBA Uniforms, attending to the few customers on the queue. It took 4 minutes to attend to each customer.
There were several customer care representatives and other operations staffs indifferent offices also attending to some of the customers who had come to lodge complaints or make enquiries. The banking hall was neat and well lightened.
It has a water dispenser that was filled up with water and stocked with cups for the use of the customers and staffs that are thirsty. It has two conveniences for Gents and Ladies which were very neat.
OBA AKRAN 3
This branch is among the several banks at Oba AkranAvenueIkeja, Lagos.It has a medium parking lot for customers and staffs to secure and safely park their cars; it also has two ATMs in the bank premises which are both dispensing cash as at the time of our arrival in this bank. There was a security personnel in the bank premises.
The banking hall was of a medium size and was empty as at the time of our arrival at this branch, around 1:30 pm. There were three Tellers at the counter being idle as there were no customer to attend to. There were also three customer care representative at a corner on the right hand side of entering into the hall. They were also sitting doing nothing.
This branch has only one convenience for both Male and Female which was a bit clean but gave an offensive odour and obviously needed deodorizing. There was a water dispenser with disposable cups.