BABATUNDE MACAULAY is head, Transactional Products & Services at Stanbic IBTC Bank, with over fifteen years experience in banking he shares with FUNKE OSAE-BROWN his skill in developing products for Stanbic.

Dressed in a navy blue suit, Babatunde Macaulay exudes confidence. His dark skin shines brightly in the well lit room. As head of Transactional Products & Services (TPS) at Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, his job includes providing solutions and product offerings around investors’ services, cash management and trade finance for the bank.

“We provide working capital solutions to target clients,” he says, “comprising of multinationals, local corporates, financial institutions and public sector groups using technology as an enabler. As head of TPS, I provide strategic direction and supervise the teams responsible for sales, product management and channels. We ensure that we deliver the right solutions to our esteemed clients in the different sectors and segments in the economy.”

Stanbic IBTC Bank’s expansion programme has come with the introduction of a wide array of specialised products and services targeted at various segments of the market.  Macaulay tells me beyond recent innovative banking products and services, customers have become even more sophisticated in their demand for specialised solutions. Hence under his leadership, the bank has been developing new products tailored to meet consumers’ needs.

“We are all witnesses to the growth of mobile telephone,” he explains, “the adoption of card solutions, and the drive towards financial inclusion and a cashless society which provide insights into how aware and savvy the banking public has become. Stanbic IBTC as a leading international bank focuses on developing customized products and solutions for different segment of our markets.”

In a bid to expand his product offerings, Macaulay says Stanbic IBTC is currently investing in a multi-million dollar IT infrastructure that will improve and deliver better efficiency in transaction initiation and execution within the bank to its clients. “This is coming on the back of our recent core-banking implementation in 2011 and subsequent upgrades,” he adds. “We are committed to providing “branchless” transactional banking for our clients via integrated automated systems with robust channel capabilities to aid convenience, reduce cost, improve overall service experience.”

In addition, he says, he and his team are aware that in the Nigerian banking industry, every new day comes with more innovation in product and service delivery from banks. Hence they are always on top of their game to stay ahead of competition by creating new products.

“As a member of the largest African banking group i.e. Standard Bank Group, Stanbic IBTC has a unique advantage of leveraging the experience and expertise of its businesses in the various geographies,” he explains. “’Being Proactive’ is one of our core values as a bank. Hence, we pride ourselves in creating innovative products and solutions by continuously engaging our markets and clients to understand market trends and customer needs. This has earned us several accolades including best sub-custodian bank, best bank for cash management overall in Africa, best bank in payments and collection, amongst others.”

With an experienced product management team, Macaulay says, Stanbic IBTC has been able to design products and services that are targeted at different countries and markets given that the Standard Bank Group, to which Stanbic IBTC belongs, operates in about twenty countries in Africa and also have a strong global footprint.

“At Stanbic IBTC we have a dedicated and experienced product management team that focuses on product development and commercialization, amongst other things,” he explains. “We also have a robust governance and new products framework that ensures our products/services are fit for purpose, satisfy various risk benchmarks and ultimately meet our customer’s needs. We consistently engage and work with top companies in the key sectors of the economy with a keen focus on Oil & Gas, Power & infrastructure, Telecoms, Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Conglomerates and Diversified Industries to understand the “voice of the customer” and roll-out tailor-made solutions in our various markets.”

Recently, his bank organised a trade and finance forum for stakeholders as a periodic engagement for its customers. “The event will be an annual one and will take on topical and relevant issues as it relates to trade finance in Nigeria. I must however quickly point out that this client series will not be limited to trade but will cut across our three transactional products area namely Trade Finance, Cash Management and Investor Services. SIBTC typically organizes thought leadership forums not just to build the brand and showcase our capabilities but also to have periodic engagements with our key clients and industry players. So the Trade Conference was one of such annual event.”

Macaulay holds a bachelors degree in Industrial Chemistry and a MSc in International Human Resource Management at Cranfield University, UK. And with over fifteen years experience in the banking and manufacturing sectors, his practice cuts across operations, cash management, commercial banking, transaction banking and human resources.

In the next five years, Macaulay believes local banks will continue to look for ways to leverage on technology to include the unbanked. “We are all witnesses to the significant transformation experienced in the Nigerian banking sector over the last decade. We believe the next five years will continue along that path. Nigerian banks will continue to explore alternative banking platforms leveraging technology to promote wider inclusion of the unbanked and delivery of products/services to the banking public.

“We see a completely cashless Nigeria with fewer brick and mortar branches and increase in alternate channel adoption across all the sectors and segments of the Nigerian economy. We see a drive for a West African regional trade and payments ecosystem driven by cards and account-based transactions. We see a more sophisticated banking public driven by convenience, security, and system availability, among others.”