Online Banking without Offline Annoyance

The drumbeat for payments and all things digital has been beating loud and long (and annoying, almost like a banshee!). At face value, this seems to be one thing customers and banks can agree about.
Banks don’t want customers in the branches anymore (because it cost more to serve them in-branch) and customers don’t even want to go to the branches to do transactions. It cost more to get there; the tellers aren’t as pretty as before; you could spend the last years of your life stuck in traffic and lastly; woe betide you if your favorite branch got robbed, a junior thief could use your pot belly for target practice.
Unfortunately, while it seems there is an agreement, almost every bank seems to struggle with getting customers online.
Many issues are to blame.
The processes are designed by sadists who don’t understand what customers want or able to even let the customers know what needs to be done online.
Even when the processes can be decrypted by the CIA and NSA, it mostly involves a trip to the banking hall.
But then, good news is, sadists are getting a change of heart and banks are seeing the light. Hallelujah.
Curiosity killed the cat
In the age where Zenith, Wema, etc. let you open an account with your USSD code, I was wondering if these banks won’t let me have internet banking without seeing their shops. So huddling with a friend, we trolled banks to find out the current processes of getting customers to register for Internet banking (hey, we didn’t touch mobile, don’t beef!) and whoa, we have an intriguing result.
Summary
Out of the 21 banks surveyed, 57% or 12 of them allow you to start and end your registration for online banking. However, most would want you to view just your balances. You must still ferry your backside to a branch to get token.
Of the lot that really understand the perspective of the customer, 50% of them allow you to complete the end-to-end enrollment and start doing transactions without any branch visit. Kudos to their product management team – you guys have balls!
Full Data

Bank	End-to-end self-enrollment?	Self-enrollment allows transactions?	Authentication method
Access Bank	Yes	No	Valid account number to register; an activation code is sent to registered email and mobile number via SMS
Diamond Bank	No	Not applicable	Download and fill form and submit at branch
Ecobank	Yes	Yes	Valid account number to get OTP via SMS
FCMB	Yes	Yes	Use valid account number, use Debit card information to validate
Fidelity Bank	Yes	Yes	Use account number to get OTP, fill online form, use debit card information to validate, download a token app and start doing transactions.
First Bank	No	Not applicable	Call FirstContact to begin registration or visit a branch
Guaranty Trust Bank	No	Not applicable	Download and fill form and then submit at branch for activation
Heritage Bank	No	Not applicable	Register online, print and take to branch for activation
Jaiz Islamic Bank	No	Not applicable	Download and fill form and then submit at branch for activation
Keystone Bank	No	Not applicable	Download and fill form and then submit at branch for activation
Providus Bank	Yes		Use valid customer ID, OTP sent via SMS
Skye Bank	No	Not applicable	Register online, print and take to branch for activation
Stanbic IBTC	Yes	Yes	Use valid account number and phone number; set up secret questions, OTP is sent via SMS
Standard Chartered	Yes	Yes	Use Standard Chartered ATM, Debit or Credit card information to validate to get OTP sent via SMS, alternatively get Temporary ID (Received via Email) Temporary Password (Received by SMS)
Sterling Bank	Yes	No	User valid account number and Phone number
SunTrust Bank	Yes		User customer number, identification number, e.g., Passport or National ID card, date of birth and branch name
Union Bank	Yes	No	Use valid account number to get OTP via SMS
United Bank for Africa	Yes	Yes	Use Valid account number, use Debit card information to validate, use OTP to consummate instant transactions
Unity Bank	No	Not applicable	Download and fill form and submit at branch
Wema Bank	Yes	No	Use valid account number
Zenith Bank	No	Not applicable	Download, complete, and submit request form at any branch or via email

TGIF but one last thing
I know the stories won’t hit the headlines but banks still get shafted, once in a while, by fraud. However, I’m very sure that the ease of onboarding, the rapidly ramping revenue from transactions and even the demand for modern banking would force everyone to be at parity within the next 2 years. Mark my word, time would come when the last bank to get onboard self-enrollment would be beaten up by the horde of irate customers.