ChatPay, a unique payment platform introduced into the Nigerian market about three months ago, has received international recognition as it bagged the Silver Award in the Digital Distribution category at the EFMA-Accenture Global Banking Awards held in Barcelona, Spain.

The solution, according to a statement, offers users the capability to perform various transactions ranging from fund transfers, airtime purchase, bills payment, location of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) as well as viewing movie listings and trailers over an artificial intelligence driven service on Messaging applications including Twitter, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, WeChat and Skype.

Over 200 financial institutions from 61 countries across the world with more than 460 innovative products and services were considered across ten categories.

The EFMA–Accenture Banking Innovation Awards is a joint initiative from EFMA and Accenture aiming to recognize the most innovative projects in the banking sector at a global level. The winners were selected by a combination of votes from a panel of judges comprised of senior bankers from around the world and online votes from EFMA members and non-members.

Presenting the Award to the Chief Evangelist for Chatpay, Gbenga Adams, Piercarlo Gera, Global Managing Director of Accenture Distribution and Marketing Services noted that the “awards show that banks are embracing digital innovation, using it to create ‘Phygital’ distribution models, combining physical and digital channels”. He added that “this both reduces the cost to serve, while also differentiating the customer experience.”

Speaking in the same vein, Vincent Bastid, the Chief Executive Officer of EFMA, said: “We can see that more banks are now fully behind the concept of digital transformation, as demonstrated by the range and volume of innovations we’ve reviewed this year. It’s exciting to see them taking advantage of such innovative technologies to differentiate themselves from the competition, improve their business and offer exciting digital services that truly engage with a new generation of customers.”

The Chief Evangelist of Chatpay, Gbenga Adams, while receiving the award, said the Award was in recognition of the next generation payment system that ChatPay embodies; a combination of Artificial Intelligence, Social Media and Open Banking all rolled into one.

Mr. Adams noted that the award will further motivate the ChatPay team to continue to break new grounds in providing cutting edge payment innovation for the digital customer.