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Polaris Bank wins Nigeria’s Best Digital Bank of the Year Award, third time in a row
Photo caption:
Nduneche Ezurike, Group Head, Brand Mngt & Corporate Communication; Bukola Oluyadi, Group Head, Customer Xperience & Value Mngt; Dele Adeyinka, Divisional Head, Retail & Digital Banking; Frank Aigbogun, BusinessDay Publisher; Rasheed Bolarinwa, Head, Corporate Communication; Peter Daniel, Head, Digital Bank & Anthony Aina, Business Analyst, Corporate Banking at the prestigious BusinessDay BAFI Awards Ceremony in Lagos on Saturday where Polaris Bank was adjudged ‘Digital Bank of the Year’ & ‘MSME Bank of the Year 2023’. Photo: Polaris Bank
Polaris Bank shone over the weekend as its bespoke home-grown digital bank, VULTe won for the third time, Nigeria’s ‘Best Digital Bank of the Year’ prize at the prestigious BusinessDAY’s Banks And Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards.
Polaris Bank also scooped ‘Best MSME Bank of the Year’ award at the same event.
VULTe, is a digital banking platform designed to enable customers to consummate every banking transactions – from account opening, through requesting for certain categories of loans – to generating bank statements. It also connects the customer to discover lifestyle trends and social events. It is an all-in-one solution that is created to offer the most convenience for customers and built to provide solutions to everyday challenges of accessing financial services and more.
In the last 12 months, VULTe which hitherto caters more to individual customers, now has enhanced capabilities to render seamless self-services to SMEs, High Net worth, and retail customers. The over 40million MSME operators in Nigeria could now use Vulte to access collateral-free loans for personal and business purposes; where eligible entrepreneurs and SME operators could apply and get up to N20million in a space of 5 minutes without visiting the Bank in person.
While presenting the Best Digital Bank award to Polaris Bank, BAFI Awards organisers disclosed that the awards selection/review committee voted Polaris Bank’s VULTe the winner having outperformed its industry peers, across eight metrics for consideration.
The metrics include; strength of strategy for attracting and gaining digital customers, accelerated user engagement, success in getting clients to use digital offerings, growth of digital customers, and platform security.
Other metrics are the breadth of product offerings for retail and corporate clients, evidence of tangible benefits gained from digital initiatives and web/mobile site design, intuitiveness and functionality.
At the same BAFI Awards,Polaris Bank was declared ‘MSME Bank of the Year’ making it a back-to-back win for the Bank (haven won same award in 2022) in what the organisers described as the Bank’s expansive impact on MSME operators across Nigeria.
In the last Nine Months, Polaris Bank had committed billions in loans to expand operations of MSME operating in Nigeria.
Polaris Bank had in May 2022 launched a N1billion fund for MSMEs in partnership with Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) in what the Bank explained was aimed at providing the much-needed funding to create wealth and empower entrepreneurs and players within the MSME space in Nigeria, starting with Lagos.
Prior to the launch of the N1billion MSME Fund, Polaris Bank had committed, and indeed, continued to provide multibillion financing to MSME operators across sectors, health inclusive among other incentives, like moratorium on facilities granted to cushion businesses following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses.
Receiving the award on behalf of the Bank, Dele Adeyinka, Retail & Digital Banking Divisional Head, while expressing the Bank’s appreciation to BusinessDay for the recognition, dedicated the awards to the Bank’s customers and stakeholders for making VULTe what it is today and promised that “Polaris Bank will continue to impact MSME digitally through innovative banking products, affordable finance and creative services that add significant value for the greater good of all stakeholders’.
Polaris Bank is digital-forward Bank dedicated to forging a customer-focused future through innovative partnerships that reshape both businesses and communities.
News
Supreme Court to rule on ADC, PDP cases Thursday
The Supreme Court of Nigeria will on Thursday, deliver judgments in two cases involving the leadership crises rocking the African Democratic Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party.
According to information on the official website of the court, the matters, listed under “Political Appeals”, have been added to the cause list for Thursday, April 30, 2026.
While judgment in the ADC matter, marked SC/CV/180/2026, has been fixed for 2 pm, there is no time yet for that if the PDP.
News
Tinubu to reconstitute NHRC board, retains Ojukwu as ES/CEO
President Bola Tinubu has written the Senate, seeking the screening and subsequent confirmation of fifteen nominees to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The letter was read by the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
The letter seeks the reconstitution of the commission’s board in line with statutory provisions with the list comprising nominees from diverse professional backgrounds, including the media and legal sectors.
Among the nominees are the President, Nigeria Guild of Editors and Editor, Vanguard Newspapers, Mr. Eze Anaba; and Dr. Salamatu Hussaina Suleiman, who has been proposed as chairman of the board.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Anthony Ojukwu (SAN) is to retain his position as the Chief Executive Officer.
Other nominees include Mrs Roseline Tasha, Ambassador Adam Yubak Baku, ACG Felix Lawrence, Mr. Edmund Chinonye, Mr. Chinonye Obiaku (SAN), Oluwakemi Asiwaju Okere-Odo, Professor Adedeji Ogunji, Kingsley Chidozie, Mohammed Adelodu, Maupe Ogun Yusuf, and Otunba Francis Meshioye as members.
Also nominated are Patience Patrick and Hawwa Ibrahim, listed as members.
The President said the nominations were made pursuant to Section 2(3) of the National Human Rights Commission (Establishment) Act, 2010, which empowers him to constitute the board subject to Senate confirmation.
He explained that the reconstitution of the board was necessary to enhance the commission’s institutional capacity and enable it to more effectively discharge its mandate to promote and protect human rights across the country.
If confirmed, the new board is expected to play a critical role in reinforcing the NHRC’s oversight functions, particularly at a time of heightened concerns over rights protection and accountability in Nigeria.
Following the presentation of the request, the Senate referred the nominations to its Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters for screening and report within two weeks.
News
Breaking: EFCC investigates Pastor Jerry Eze over alleged money laundering
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has revealed that it investigated the founder of Streams of Joy International, Pastor Jerry Eze, for six months over suspected money laundering before clearing him.
Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Commission, disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking at the Jerry Eze Foundation Business Grant Award Ceremony in Abuja.
According to him, the probe was triggered by intelligence reports and petitions after the commission observed large inflows of foreign currencies into the cleric’s domiciliary account.
“We work by intelligence, we work by petitions. At some point, I saw there was an account, a domiciliary account. Dollars, pounds were dropping in like raindrops, from Colombia, from America, from Sri Lanka, even from Togo.
“I said who is this man? Yes, I’ve been hearing about his name, I’ve seen his face a couple of times. I never bothered about what he was doing. I knew he was a pastor.
“So they said this one pastor of streams of joy, go and investigate him. So we went to the investigation. We combed the books,” Olukoyede stated.
The EFCC boss said he subsequently invited Eze for questioning after preliminary findings were compiled by investigators.
He added that upon meeting the cleric and reviewing the findings of the investigation, the commission found no wrongdoing.
“So he came to my office. He told me what happens and all of that, and how the money came, what he does, how he has been helping people, and all of that.
“I said, you know what, I didn’t call you here to explain to me. We have already done our work. I called you here to commend you,” he stated.
The remark drew applause from the audience, as Eze, who was present at the event, acknowledged the commendation.
He noted that the commission has a responsibility not only to investigate financial crimes but also to recognise individuals found to have acted with integrity.
The EFCC chairman, however, stated that the agency would continue to monitor financial activities where necessary, stressing that its preventive mandate remains critical in tackling corruption.
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