UBA Zambia introduces Leo, its digital banking assistant

United Bank for Africa (UBA) Zambia has added to its digital banking platform options with the introduction of Leo, UBA’s digital  Banker whom customers can use to carry out banking activities through social media.

Leo was launched last night (7th june 2018) and guests at the event got to see  invited guests were given a step by step demonstration on the novel way of delivering lifestyle and quality banking through the Facebook Messenger platform.

UBA created Leo as a solution to simplify the way customers transact with the bank, as ‘something that has become necessary in today’s fast-paced world with demands for quick-time transactions and responses.’

With Leo, customers will be able to:

• open new accounts
• receive instant transaction notifications
• check account balances
• transfer funds
• make airtime top-ups
• confirm cheques
• pay bills
• apply for loans
• freeze accounts
• request for mini statements, and more.

UBA Zambia, Country Managing Director  Mr. Emeka Dimanochie, said that ‘Leo is part of initiatives aimed at putting the bank’s customers first with UBA continuously developing strategies aimed at easing transactions for the bank’s numerous users, while ensuring utmost safety of their transactions.’

“The formulation of this product, is consistent with the bank’s customer first philosophy, where we are doing things not the way we like, but focusing on what the customers want, where they want it, and in the exact platform they want it.

At UBA, we have been working with technology giants that have the global capacity to ensure not only seamless but also effortless banking for millions of our customers across Africa. We at UBA, have collaborated with Facebook to come up with this innovation that is capable of revolutionising the way banking is done in Africa,” he said. Dimanochie noted that Leo will in the nearest future, show up on other social platforms and added that all it takes to enjoy the services is simply to have a Facebook account.

Leo being an intelligent personality will give you feedback instantaneously as you transact your business on the platform. A solution that is from the customer’s standpoint and is easy to use by anyone.”

Head of Digital Banking Sales at UBA Zambia, Mrs. Tola Adebayo, conducted a step by step demonstrationof how Leo works and sai that he’s not just a chat machine, but an artificial intelligence personality meant to address any type of banking concerns raised by customers.

“Leo is ready and waiting to help with most transactions and to deliver any form of banking services. Leo is operating a lifestyle banking platform on facebook messenger to assist with your transactions while chatting with your friends and business partners. The security with this platform is that for every transaction, an OTP (One Time Password) is generated to the phone number that is registered on your account.”

I checked it out. First you search for ‘UBA ChatBanking‘ and Leo introduces himself and asks for what country you’re in (because you’re sharing him with all countries UBA is in), then you’ll see options at the bottom of the chat for what service you need, in my case ‘account opening‘, before it opens up another chat showing you what you need to do. The bot has access to your Facebook information such as your phone number and will ask to confirm if that’s the one you want linked or is already linked to your account: