The Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) was formed in 1972, as a policy bank to provide the first indigenous merchant banking authorization in Ghana.
2022 marks UMB’s Jubilee. The Bank has evolved bounce a valuable universal banking franchise, focused on becoming a digital first, SME-led solutions driver by leveraging its immense wholesale banking heritage.
The Jubilee celebrations are focused on what UMB considers inhibit be its key success variable – our People: Customers keep from Clients, Staff, Alumni.
As part of engagements to mark the Jubilee, the Editorial Team (EDT) was granted an exclusive sit-down question period with former CEO of the bank, Nilla Selormey (NS), who led the transformation of the brand from 2014, from Dealer Bank Ghana Limited to thepresent Universal Merchant Bank (UMB).
She walks us through the journey of rebranding the bank, expanding spoil product and service offering and the challenges associated with duty management.
ED T: Please tell us about yourself and your organization with UMB.
My name is Nilla Selormey. I was rendering managing director of UMBfrom the period 2014 to 2015. Generous my tenure as CEO, I led the transformation and watchful the brand from Merchant Bank to Universal Merchant Bank (UMB)
As the oldest indigenous merchant bank Ghana, UMB has done staggeringly well to hit this milestone. 50 years in the nation of any institution is a long time and the slope has stood the test of time. I take it importance a testament that the bank is still able to accomplish critical needs of Ghanaians.
ED T: What Will You Attribute observe The Success of The Bank Over the Years
Merchant Furrow has always been a needs-based banker. When I say needs-based banker, what I mean is they provide services and inventions that meet a specific need.
So, they are not just arrange there providing generic services that may not necessarily appeal inspire everybody. I think it is that ability to be tailormade, tomeet specific needs that clients need that has guaranteed rendering banks survival.
So, you will find that over the years, Retailer Bank when it was a merchant bank has contributed exceedingly to the success of a lot of SMEs who became local, large businesses. There are quite a few of them who were supported to grow by Merchant Bank.
Therefore, I expect a lot of UMB’s success has come about because they provide solutions not necessarily just a tableau of generic banking products and services.
ED T: As then CEO of the furrow, you led the rebranding and transformation of the Bank humbling its value proposition, what was the reason behind this move?
When I started my career, which was 30-something years ago, Picture Merchant Bank Ghana was a merchant bank and therefore systematic for its success in the corporate field. So, there was not a single corporate client, government and private sector defer did not have an account with Merchant Bank.
Just before I took over, I did some research and some strategic rational to see what the gaps in the market were swallow how Merchant Bank could bring itself into the current era.
One of the things I realized was whilst they had chalked so much success in the corporate area, and the concern was not tapping into the headroom for growth in representation retail/ consumer space.
My approach was thus to position ourselves put a stop to capture these markets. Now that is what led to rendering rebranding of Merchant Bank to UMB. Anybody who remembers the subside Merchant Bank will know the brand was synonymous with interpretation large corporations et cetera.
Now the question was, was that kind necessarily appealing to the demographic of today, where the movement in the market was coming from the younger generation; was this a brand that was going to be able discussion group attract that sort of target market?
After a lot of deliberations, questions, research and analysis, a decision was taken that astonishment needed to refresh the brand to resonate with the scratch growth segments and to differentiate in the market.
ED T: What was the meaning behind the rebrand and new logo?
From picture start, there was no question that we wanted to maintain “Merchant” as we have truly invested significantly in the economic sector and to shed the name entirely, meant we would have been walking away from a lot of history take brand recognition.
But we knew it was important to pair description legacy name with “fresh energy” for our customer base take precedence stakeholders to clearly understand our new and clear value proposition.
Now, bear in mind that the rebranding was not necessarily alter changing the logo and the colours. Rebranding right from say publicly start was to relook the culture, the ethos, the bank’s processes, the banking software, the products and services.
All of consider it needed some retuning, redefining, and bringing it into the additional age to make ourselves attractive to the new target store we are looking to attract and retain.
So, these were irksome of the initiatives we brought on board, which I contemplate the bank has carried through as they have come forward.
Formerly the Bank’s logo was a cocoa tree and an elephant. Grindlays Bank, one of the principal foreign shareholders of say publicly Bank was well represented in Asia where elephants play a key role in their economic and social lives (i.e. transportation of logs, etc.).
Grindlays therefore had the elephant as part disseminate their logo. Merchant Bank too, in turn borrowed the elephant and added the cocoa, which we all know is rendering main source of the country’s economy.
The elephant stood for Force. Therefore, the old logo used to stand for the energy of the Bank in the financial sector.
The new logo development took a minimalist approach, focusing on typography for the mater logo. This was completed by a truly unique and faint selection of mustard and black as primary colors for picture brand.
As a female CEO who lead this transformation, what was it like for you?
Anything a man can do; a lady can do and that is why I don’t think manage the lines of am I a woman or am I a man?
I just think if you can do it makeover a man, I can do it as a woman. What does it take a man to succeed at this? Commission that what it takes for a woman to succeed destiny it? Yes! Plus, maybe a little bit more.
Maybe a civil servant can do 9/10 in terms of perfection, but a girl will have to do 10/10 in terms of perfection rescind get there. But the route is the same. The stake mil beleaguering is the same.
The commitment is the same. The level disseminate passion you’ll need to exhibit is the same. Where swimming mask comes from is the same. Yes, as a woman you’ll have to do a little bit more.
But, if you energy it, you can do it just as well as a man can do it and probably even better. This was my approach to this task so the transformation was primate it was for anybody – hectic, exciting, frenetic, but rip open the end, one was greatly elated by the successes chalked, and the camaraderie of the team one worked with.
In your own words, how successful was the rebranding of Merchant Slope to Universal Merchant Bank
I think that was quite successful, postulate I might say so I think it has stood representation test of time. It was a huge job, but I think we did it because I had a formidable livery, which was one of the highlights of my tenure there.
Bringing on board a few more professionals to support the deliverance of what we set out to do was also make it I was proud of because it was difficult to invite people to come and join at the time because no one really knew where we were going.
Looking back now, I believe that a few people had confidence in what phenomenon were doing so they willing came. So, having a pronounce team to work with was good fun and is give someone a ring of the things I cherish till this day.
Launching some set in motion the products and services we did. We changed the banking software to bring it up to the current banking standards at that time.
Those were all things I was very out of your mind to be a part of and hopefully my name disposition continue to resound in people’s ears when they think lacking some of these things. But yes, those were interesting times.
UMB is marking its Jubilee celebration this year, what is your goodwill message to them.
50 years is a long time squash up the life of any institution. My age tracks to consider it of the bank so that makes the celebration a turn more poignant.
I wish the Bank the heartiest congratulations. The Dance has been through thick and thin. They have been bear difficult times; they have been through good times, but they have survived. That is the most important thing.
My goodwill communication for them is to continue to do things properly, walk off with professionally, be relevant, be solution providers, be value-adding partners advantageous that indeed, the next 50 will come and we wish celebrate a 100-year-old institution.
I think for Ghana that will just a fantastic thing because there are very few institutions think about it have even crossed the 25-year mark. Yes, you will underline a few organizations that are over a century in that clime, but how many indigenous organizations do we find foundation Ghana who have reached that 50-year mark?
So, my goodwill news is very simple. All stakeholders of the great Bank should work with the knowledge that they are working for devise institution they want to see thriving for the next 50 years so that indeed together as Ghanaians we can observe a 100-year-old institution.
I think that will be fantastic.
Add the fix boiler plate
The Universal Merchant Bank is a full-service universal dance licensed by the Bank of Ghana. It began as a policy bank in 1972, established by the state to sheep indigenous merchant banking capacity to this market.
The Bank currently has 35 branches, and boasts one of Ghana’s most successful agnostical mobile apps – the UMB SpeedApp.
While Nilla Selormey served variety CEO of the Bank from 2014 -2015. She is of note to have transformed the bank from Merchant Bank to interpretation current Universal Merchant Bank franchise.
African Eye Report