Banking in the age of COVID-19 means face-to-face interactions are not advised where possible. It means that financial institutions need to come up with solutions to assist customers while also adhering to regulations and restrictions. It is part of the reason why Nedbank recently launched its new self-service collection points in the form of lockers.

The solutions are proving increasingly popular, according to Nedbank, and now the financial institution is going to make finding one far easier for its customers. This as it plans to add 150 more collection points to the network of lockers over the next three years.

“Since the successful launch of the Nedbank lockers in November 2019, clients across the country can enjoy the convenience and safety offered by lockers at 46 branches, and a further 14 installations by the end of 2020 as well as an additional 150 new sites over the next three years,” confirms Dayalan Govender, managing executive for Card, Payments and Transactional at Nedbank. 

As Govender explains, the lockers were originally conceptualised as a solution to the main issues that have hampered traditional card deliveries and collections over the years, primarily as it required clients to make themselves available to accept courier deliveries or ensure that they could get to the bank during operating hours.

“Collections from lockers are not restricted to business hours, require no interaction with branch staff, and the cards retrieved from these secure holding points are automatically activated within five minutes of the client picking them up,” says Govender.

“All of which resulted in the Nedbank Lockers becoming a preferred means of card collection for many of our clients during the Covid-19 crisis,” he adds.

Further breaking down how the system works, customers who are FICA compliant and elect to receive their cards from a Nedbank locker are sent an SMS with a unique PIN that they can then use to unlock the secure collection point and retrieve their parcel. Customers have 48 hours from the time the parcel is delivered into the locker to retrieve it, after which the cards are moved into the branch as a security measure.

According to Govender, the average time taken for card collections from lockers in October was 1.17 days, with 34 percent of collections taking place within six hours of the SMS being sent to customers.

Along with the rollout of more lockers, hopefully Nedbank has more convenient solutions in the works.