We are always on the move, not because we don’t have anything to do but that’s the reality of our lives in Lagos. We are usually busy, stuck in traffic and when our pretty backsides are stuck in traffic for hours, we end up loving our fondleslabs.
So while in that horrendous traffic, we want to get some things done such as reading the latest gist on Linda Ikeji or transferring money to a pesky cousin. Banking is what we all take seriously because that’s where your liquid livelihood is probably warehoused. We just wanna be able to hit our bank anytime and every time, any day and every day.
If banks understand this (they are supposed to be smart guys, ehn?) then I suppose they should have mobile first strategy. Ok, that’s consultants’ speak (heaven knows I hate that bunch!). The taste of the pudding is in the eating (whosoever came up with that proverb is a wobia!) so I expect that banks should have websites tuned for mobile phones. After all if I need to pay Silifa or find out some random thing about my bank and I’m stuck on Third Mainland Bridge traffic just around Oworo, it’s my unfortunate phone, battery and data permitting, that I will turn to.
So on an unfortunate Saturday while waiting for my friend to come around, I decided to visit banks’ websites with my phone and see how they scale up.
Here we go people:
| Bank | Mobile Friendly | Secure Website |
| Access Bank | Yes | Yes |
| Citibank | Yes | No |
| Diamond Bank (*Acquired by Access Bank) | Yes | No |
| Ecobank Nigeria | No | No |
| Fidelity Bank Plc | Yes | Yes |
| First Bank of Nigeria | Yes | No |
| First City Monument Bank | No | Yes |
| Guaranty Trust Bank | Yes | No |
| Heritage Bank Limited | Yes | No |
| Keystone Bank Limited | Yes | No |
| Skye Bank | No | Yes |
| Stanbic IBTC Bank | Yes | No |
| Standard Chartered Bank | Yes | Yes |
| Sterling Bank | Yes | No |
| Union Bank of Nigeria | Yes | No |
| United Bank for Africa | No | No |
| Unity Bank Plc | Yes | No |
| Wema Bank | Yes | No |
| Zenith Bank | Yes | Yes |
How did I test?
- Used Samsung S5
- Searched for the bank name and clicked on the link
- Faffing about on April 4, 2015
What’s the secure website about?
It is increasingly common for websites to now default to using just HTTPS for all traffic. It is seen as a sign of understanding the times. However it doesn’t mean that internet banking traffic has been compromised (all banks use HTTPS for their internet banking).