Spatial Technologies Ltd (STL)-Nigeria’s most innovative mapping and GIS solution provider is proud to announce that it had been engaged by UBA PLC to implement a map based solution to support a multibillion naira branch expansion and optimization project.
UBA is the largest financial services institution in West Africa with more than seven million (7m) customer accounts, and operations in 19 African countries, as well as presence in New York, London and Paris. UBA realized that banks in the Nigeria of today must be market driven and market responsive in a highly competitive market.
The success of such a financial institution depends heavily on its approach to data management, customer relation management. By adding a geographic component called “Location” to its database, UBA can gain enormous advantage in many ways.
The objectives of the project were:
- To develop a systematic or scientific method of locating branches and ATMs for profitability
- To provide a visual and scientific process to locating smaller sized branches “Spoke” around existing Large Branches “Hubs”.
- An enabler to the realization of cost saving of over N9billion on branch expansion in Nigeria
This is a pilot project starting with Lagos and expected to spread later to other parts of Nigeria. Under the contract, STL provided the digital street map data of Lagos covering Lagos metropolis, Ikorodu, Epe, Badagry and Sango Otta. STL also mapped the locations of all existing UBA’s branches and ATMs including those of other banks that UBA recently acquired as well as mapping the locations of all branches of UBA’s 5 most important competitors throughout Lagos State and Sango Ota, Ibafo, Mowe.
The contract also covered the mapping of several Points of Interest (POIs) that were considered important considerations when choosing an optimum location for a new UBA branch. The categories of POIs mapped included schools, shopping malls, restaurants, “open-air” markets, hotels, etc across Lagos STL also geocoded the location of over 1,000,000 UBA’s customers based on their residential addresses into a GIS format. This made it possible for UBA to see for the first time the geographic spread of over 1million customers within the project area on an interactive street map of Lagos. Another deliverable was the demographic data of Lagos categorized into LGAs (Local Government Areas) projected from the Nigeria’s 2006 census data.
The project is expected to assist UBA PLC in the following strategic analyses:
- Bank Network competitiveness/optimization analysis: A geographic approach to analyzing where new branches and ATMs should be located and what factors affect either positively or negatively their operation and profitability.
- Competitors intelligence mapping: A structured approach using Geographic Intelligence to analyze the geographic location of competitors’ branches and ATMs to evaluate the effectiveness of all UBA branches in the face of competition
- Customer management identification and targeting Analysis: This type of analysis would be helpful in evaluating the geographic distribution of UBA customers with respect to the branches and how to position UBA branches to serve them better
- Demographic Analysis
Following the development and implementation phase of the complex solution, STL provided ongoing enhancement and on-site support over a period of several months and quality MapInfo training to UBA’s staff that were expected to use the solution to deliver informed business investment decisions. The project employed well-proven location technology platform –MapInfo. MapInfo Professional is a recognized brand in the location technology all over the world and was selected for this project based on its ease of use, richness of depth, robust Database Management System (DBMS) functionality and superb cartographic capabilities.
This is the first GIS (Geographic Information System) implementation at this scale by any financial institution in Nigeria. This project also marked the first successful attempt by any private company in Nigeria to geocode addresses in a consistent way throughout the history of mapping in Nigeria. To be able to achieve this feat, STL had to build a complex AI “Address Infrastructure” for Lagos which is not an easy task especially considering the fact that addresses in Lagos is not straight forward because of the inconsistency in the house numbering.
Ireti Ajala, Chief Executive Officer of STL commented: “We are extremely delighted to have worked with UBA on this important GIS project. By using GIS as a strategic tool, UBA would be able to make informed business and strategic decisions that would not have been possible using the traditional row-column tabular database approach.” Ajala who once headed MTN Nigeria’s GIS unit within Network Work Group further said “By this project, UBA had joined the league of such financial institutions as MasterCard, Bank of America, Barclays Bank, Bank of the West, Royal Bank of Canada, NatWest PLC, and a host of other banks across the world that use GIS in making and supporting informed business decisions”
About UBA PLC
Below are some of the achievements of UBA PLC
- UBA was the first ever successful merger in Nigerian banking history
- UBA received excellent credit ratings (short and long term); Global Credit Rating (SA) AA+ and A+ in 2005
- Ranked Number One Bank in Nigeria (Augusto & Co, 2007) 4) UBA bagged the Emerging Global Bank Award, beating strong contenders like JP Morgan Chase and Standard Bank in the process.
About STL
STL is Nigeria’s foremost mapping and GIS consulting company with offices in Lagos and UK. STL specializes in developing geospatial databases and solutions about Nigeria for the Nigerian market. The company has extensive experience in collecting and processing data from geographic information sources as digitized maps, satellite imageries and aerial data. STL is seriously investing in what is now regarded as Nigeria’s largest geo-spatial database by any private company. STL’s maps and solutions power the operations of companies in telecom, vehicle tracking, retail marketing, banking, construction, and Government Agencies.
STL is also the owner of LagosLocation.com which is Nigeria’s foremost map based hotel price comparison website that checks multiple hotels across Lagos for availability and returns a list of results allowing you to choose either the cheapest rate or your preferred hotel in Lagos STL will always be found at the forefront of GIS technology and innovation in Nigeria.
