UBA’s chat banker, Leo, available on WhatsApp from September 1

United Bank of Africa’s (UBA) chat banker, Leo, is to become fully available to customers from September 1, 2018, the bank disclosed in a statement made available to business a.m..

Users of the WhatsApp who are customers of the bank, as well as potential customers, will upon becoming available on the chat platform be able to open new accounts, check their balances on the carry and carry out basic transactions, the bank said.

Explaining the rationale behind the launch of Leo on WhatsApp, Kennedy Uzoka, group managing director said: “In today’s fast paced world with demands for quick responses, our aim is to make banking seamless and effortless for our millions of existing and potential customers.”

Austin Abolusoro, the group head of UBA’s online banking, also noted that ‘Leo, being a tested dependable and intelligent personality, will replicate on WhatsApp, the success it has experienced on the Facebook messenger platform.

“It is a solution that is from the customer’s standpoint, easy to use by anyone regardless of your demography.’ ‘Leo is ready and waiting to help with any form of banking services,” Abolusoro said.

Adding that “WhatsApp having been in existence for over 9 years, reaching more than 1.5 billion people in over 180 countries, has assured that there will be no spam messages as the development is to enable businesses serve their customers with useful and helpful information.

The bank further disclosed that Leo who is already present in over 12 African subsidiaries, including Nigeria, and available in three languages, will be fully rolled out to customers on WhatsApp in September 2018 with all its regular features and extended attributes for WhatsApp.