Nseobong Okon-Ekong writes on a unique financial institution, VFD Group Limited that deploys innovative entertainment platforms to provide novelty in banking

At the start of the COVID 19 pandemic, most people including myself found solace in online activities –primarily but not exclusively, on Instagram. You name it, I engaged with it – I attended practically every webinar, every IG Live chat and even found myself attending a ‘Nightclub’ online – yes I said it, I partied at ‘ClubV’.

I know what you were thinking, how could I compare an ‘IG party’ to a large venue where DJs thump and spin afrobeat, house and other genres of music? But in fact, I am comparing and dare I say, I partied till 4am in the morning until the virtual bouncers at ClubV kicked me out.

It is fair to say that if the lockdown hadn’t left me with so much boredom, I wouldn’t have paid attention to it but with nothing to do, this was a perfect feast for the eyes as well as the ears.

Now the biggest surprise for this experience was discovering that this was not a creative concept by some of Nigeria’s biggest DJ acts or in fact a host of influencers – it was in fact, a bank that had cleverly orchestrated this.

Are you confused? So was I. I then started to wonder, why will V by VFD, a digital bank organize a ‘club party’ on Instagram?

It seemed improbable but the show was great fun, there was never a dull moment mostly engineered by the Brand Ambassador, music maestro, Don Jazzy entertaining his loyal followers with his unique brand of antics supported by the sounds of DJ Big N.

Fast forward to recent times, VBank caught my attention once again on Twitter. This time, this creative digital bank had consumers share real life tales of the interest payments they had received on their accounts.

At first, I wasn’t sure where to look but with the endless Twitter banter and some celebrity testimonials including fashion designer, Mai Atafo who shared his story of being the recipient of a N18,000 interest payment.

Mai is an acquaintance that I have known on the job and so I reached out to him to understand what the hoopla was all about. It was simple – V for VFD (fondly known as VBank) – launched earlier in 2020; was paying customers interests on their idle overnight bank balances, cumulatively dropping on the 1st day of the following month.

I started to investigate the difference between what its customers had received to what I got from an actual investment (Fixed Deposit) in my ‘brick & mortar’ bank. I must admit, VBank was paying higher. How were the interests I had been receiving lower than what a VBank customer who didn’t even make an investment receive?

The challenge with saving is that many do not practice the maxim that says little drops of water make an ocean. They can conveniently spend a maximum of N2000, for instance, everyday on mundane things (that is N60000 per month or approximately N730000 in a year), as they complain about the economy, the government, and the people around them for their woes.

Some of the products in the VFD Group Limited portfolio in VFD Bridge, a debt investment company that provides personal financial advisory services to individuals and small businesses. Another popular product is Anchoria Asset Management (AAM), a specialist provider of active investment products and services to institutional and individual investors.

That was the sign I needed. I immediately searched “VBank” on AppStore, downloaded the app. I am looking forward to the first day of each month. I honestly cannot wait to post my interest payment for all to see – you may even get to see my victory dance on the day.