16 | The Lion King
Ask the Executive
the boundaries between technology
companies, telecoms companies,
e-retailers and banks are significantly
blurred as regards the provisioning of
banking or financial services. Essentially,
in that future, the way we interact with
banks will have significantly changed
and will not really be different from the
way we interact with companies such
as Apple today.
The interesting thing is that Africa, rather
than lag, may be at the forefront of
some of these disruptive transitions
especially in areas where traditional
banking services have been slow in
penetrating.
Oil price is expected to decline further
in 2015 with apparent economic impli-
cations. Do you think this will affect the
way Banks invest in IT infrastructure?
Generally, economic conditions have
impact on business performance and
there is a direct linkage between busi-
ness performance and the capacity to
make new investments including tech-
nology investments. Typically, what you
see is a shift in the nature of investments
in IT where priority is given to projects
that will have direct and near-term im-
pact on business performance, that is,
drive revenue growth or productivity or
cost optimization or enhance business
competitiveness.
Considering the global challenge with IT
Security, what are we doing to keep cy-
ber criminals away from our platforms?
UBA has made significant investments
in security and have received the ISO
27001 Information System and PCI DSS
certifications. Nonetheless, IT in collabo-
ration with other stakeholders including
IT Risk, Operations, Internal Control and
Audit continue to work together to
strengthen the bank's security posture.
In line with this, we established an IT
Enterprise Security Unit within IT to focus
on Security Administration as separate
from Systems and Database Adminis-
tration functions. This has enabled us
to respond faster in closing identified
vulnerabilities and also in focusing on IT
security projects.
UBA also has a state-of-the-art Security
Operations Centre and Forensic Lab
which provides all-round security moni-
toring for all electronic banking
transactions. It is the first of its kind for a
bank in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.
The bank is recording giant strides in the
retail banking sector; how are we lev-
eraging our IT platform to attain market
leadership in this sector?
The truth is that retail banking growth
is a lagging indicator of improvements
in IT platforms, Channel services and
Product offering. We have in the last
one year significantly improved our
POS services moving from 2,150 active
terminals to over 4,400 active terminals.
We have also enhanced the availability
of network services to improve branch
and ATM services.
We have worked with E-Banking to
improve U-Direct, U-Mobile and intro-
duced Twitter alerts, which is a first in
the banking industry. We would be
launching a Facebook Banking Solution
in December under the U-Social brand.
This would further deepen our retail
banking penetration, whilst enhancing
our profile as an innovative Bank.
What has your experience been
since you assumed this office?
I would say the last one year
has been both exciting and
challenging. The excitement
derives from the fact that
we have articulated a robust
roadmap that will take UBA
IT to global standards and
we have a great team that is
passionate about executing it.
Whereas the challenge derives
from the need to maintain a
delicate balance between deliv-
ering the future and keeping
today's light on. And
not to add the fact
that we are in a
hurry to get to the
future.
How would you
describe your
relationship
with your direct
reports?
I have a great
relationship
with my direct
reports and
we have
found what
you can say
is a common
rhythm in the
IT vision.
What are the factors that inspire and
motivate you to aim for greater suc-
cess?
I would say a combination of optimism
and innate dissatisfaction with status
quo. I do not subscribe to the maxim of
"do not fix it if it ain't broke" and always
believe there is room for improvement.
Besides, I always benchmark against
global standards, which usually brings
new knowledge and opportunity for
growth.
Work and family life; how do you bal-
ance the competing demands of both?
This is the one thing that I would say
is continuous work in progress. None-
theless, there are some family routines
that ensure I am able to allocate some
quality time to the family starting with
daily family morning worship, revision
of school work periodically, weekend
time outs, and the family vacations.
Of course, I believe there is significant
room for improvement here and I am
working on it. I guess I'll just
make it my number one
resolution for 2015.
