Nigeria’s Sterling Bank has launched a new SMS fraud protection service, in line with the trend of African banks taking advantage of the ubiquity of mobile phones to interact with their customers and enlist their help in monitoring card activity for fraudulent charges.
The CardGuard fraud protection service is a first among Nigeria’s banks. Launched using Clickatell’s messaging platform, CardGuard incorporates the customer’s mobile phone into the bank’s network of services.
Across Africa, there is rising customer demand for messaging services that deliver information and services to end users via mobile phone. Some of the largest banks in countries such as Kenya and South Africa provide SMS messaging for banking customer service and fraud monitoring, with services such as CardGuard allowing customers to freeze their account via their mobile device if they notice a fraudulent withdrawal.
“The mobile phone is a powerful customer service channel that helps us to respond immediately to our customers while providing an extra layer of protection, for them and for us, against fraudulent activities,” said Devendra Puri, Executive Director, Operations and Technology of Sterling Bank Plc Nigeria.
“We have a broad range of experiences from working with banks throughout Africa and we’re pleased to be expanding into the Nigerian banking market with our new relationship with Sterling Bank,” said Pieter de Villiers, CEO of Clickatell. “Consumers are demanding their favourite brands provide greater interaction and capabilities through their mobile phone and Sterling Bank is out front in responding with its clever new CardGuard service.”
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