First Bank of Nigeria Limited over the weekend presented brand new car to the grand prize winner at the recently concluded Verve Card transact and win promo. AMAKA IFEAKANDU looks at the benefits of the Verve card and the impact of the campaign on customers.
First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s premier commercial bank, has rewarded the grand prize winner of its Verve Card campaign, Mr Olakunle Animasahun, the Chairman of Kanwl International Limited, with a brand new car.
The 14-week promo, in partnership with Verve, was designed to reward Verve Card customers for their continued usage and adoption of the card for various digitally driven transactions.
Although the winners initially thought the promo was a scam, they were later to shower encomiums on the giant financial institution when it turned out to be real.
In all, the bank gave out the sum of N50 million to 2,631 customers in the promo and other prizes including cash, airtime, power generating sets, refrigerator, cooking gas and television sets.
The bank had earlier extended its Verve Card promo to July 1, 2022, saying the extension afforded it the opportunity of further rewarding customers for their continued usage of the Verve debit Card.
Procedure to win
According to the bank, to qualify to win the car, customers must carry out 16 transactions during promo period, while a minimum of four transactions weekly qualify customers to stand the chance of winning one of the 32-inch LED TV.
The Verve Card campaign, which is designed to reward customers for their continued usage of the Verve debit Card, has seen thousands of the bank’s customers winning numerous prizes since the promo was launched earlier in the year.
FirstBank Verve Card
FirstBank’s Verve Card allows cardholders to conveniently pay for goods and services because it is accepted by all payment channels and bank branches connected to the Interswitch network in Nigeria.
The card is powered by Interswitch, secured with chip and PIN technology.
Features
The card is secured with chip and PIN technology for enhanced protections of funds
denominated in Naira.
Apart from card being accepted wherever the Interswitch logo or verve logo is displayed in Nigeria, it is valid for Quickteller services.
FirstBank verve card is unique because transactions done with the card can easily be monitored through the FirstBank internet banking service and on the FirstBank Mobile Banking App
The card has 24-hour access to support all card-related complaints through FirstContact
Benefits
Listing the benefits of the card, the bank said the verve card has easy access to funds 24 hours each day, eliminates the risk and inconvenience of carrying cash and also
flexible as it can be used across multiple channels – Point of Sales (PoS), Web, Automated Teller Machine(ATM) among others
The card can be used to carry out payments up to N2,500,000 daily using FirstBank POS terminals.
It has multiple Value-Added Services such as airtime recharge, bills payments, e.t.c.
There are discounts targeted at Verve cardholders and this is an exclusive collection of discounts for Verve cardholders.
Elated winner comments
In his moment of excitement, the star prize winner, Mr Animasahun, expressed his appreciation to FirstBank and Verve for finding him worthy to be the winner of the grand prize.
“This car that has been given to me today is a surprise to me because I didn’t expect it, when they contacted me, I thought it was a scam, until my wife asked me to go to the bank and verify after receiving series of calls.
“When I got to the bank, I was congratulated for winning a car. I thank FirstBank so much,’’ he said.
Other winners
Some of the lucky customers who spoke to journalists during the presentation of the prizes to the first set of winners, said they were very excited at emerging winners and commended FirstBank for launching the promo.
For instance, Aluko Olakunle, who won a refrigerator, said: “When I was first informed by the bank that I was one of the winners, I initially thought it was one of those scams, but then I took time to visit FirstBank’s head office to confirm.
“After the confirmation, it is not quiet long, I was called to come and pick the item from the bank’s head office. I appreciate what FirstBank has done. Since my youthful days, Firstbank had been my first choice of bank.”
Another winner, Ajao Tawakalit Abiola, who won a gas cooker, said: “I was sleeping when the call came and as I woke up to pick it, the caller introduced herself and told me she is from FirsBank that I had won gas cooker. I didn’t believe her because I knew I didn’t involve in any raffle draw.
“The following day, she called me again to come and pick a gas cooker I won. I told my husband and he encouraged to go. Today, I have a gas cooker from FirstBank and I pray that FirstBank will continue to be first in everything.”
Similarly, during the second set of the prize presentation, Sergeant Kusalu Babatunde Solomon, who won a power generator, said he was excited and prayed that God should continue to promote FirstBank.
On his part, Aitsegame Harley Ani Otsemobor, who won a refrigerator, said: “When I received the text message, I thought it was one of those scammers flying all over the place, so I didn’t respond to it, until two days later when somebody called me again from FirstBank and told me that I have won a refrigerator.
“At that point, my mind now flashed back to the initial text message I received. I appreciate First- Bank for doing this to their customers.”
In the same vein, Saka Adelaja Lateef, who won refrigerator, said: “I’m so happy about this and I pray that God will bless the management of FirstBank and their staff members
FirstBank comment
Speaking at the prize presentation on Friday in Lagos, FirstBank’s Group Executive, E-Business and Retail Products, Mr Chuma Ezirim, said the aim of the promo was to appreciate the bank’s over eight million Verve Debit Card holders.
“We have given out over N50 million worth of prizes to 2,631 customers including the grand prize of a brand new car to be given out today.
“Other prizes given out during the promo were: N50,000, N20, 000 and N10, 000 cash prizes, N10,000 worth of airtime; power generating sets, refrigerator, cooking gas and television sets.
“We are excited at the response of customers to the promo and encourage the continued usage of the Verve Card as it is a card offering that promotes safe, convenient and rewarding digital banking service to customers,’’ he said.
Ezirim said the bank would continue to provide the best financial services possible through its versatile products, services and initiatives to customers.
He added that the bank would continue to engage in the right collaborations of putting its customers first.
Also speaking, Mrs Folasade Femi-Lawal, Head Card Business, FirstBank, described the promo as `unique and first of its kind’ across the industry in a long while.
Femi-Lawal said, “While other banks share out items, Verve and FirstBank decided to reward her esteem customers with a brand new car aside other things.
“We started industry wide for eight weeks and then by popular demand and with the support of management of FirstBank and Verve, we decided to extend by six weeks, so the entire promo ran for 14 weeks.
“In the course of this, we had 800 winners who won N10, 000 cash, 800 winners won N10, 000 airtime, we also had 800 winners that won N20,000, 100 customers won N50, 000 cash, 40 customers went home with gas cookers, 30 customers went home with brand new refrigerators, 30 customers won 32 inches television sets, 30 customers went home with brand new generators and finally a grand prize winner.
“What is actually germane about this particular winner is to underscore FirstBank’s support and Verve to SMEs and businesses, ” she said.
Verve official
Also in his comment, Mr. Vincent Ogbunude, Divisional Chief Executive Officer of Verve, said the company would continue to focus on providing secure and innovative payment solutions to its customers.
“But beyond this overarching goal of ours, we are also committed to creating on the look customer experiences to our card owners, those that have chosen us as their preferred option for cards and we look to rewarding them for their loyalty.
“This is the reason behind this collaboration with FirstBank to do this national consumer promo and today, we will be taking the excitement a notch higher with the presentation of the gifts items.
“FirstBank and Verve have had a unique partnership and we believe that this is just one of the many initiatives that we will carry out and this is underpinned by our common desire to give the best experience to customers and to reward them for patronage,’’ Ogbunude said.
In all, the representatives of the National Lottery Commission, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority, witnessed the grand finale.
With transparency, openness and fair play that guided the exercise, First Bank should be prepared for a higher participation in the next promo.
