SunTrust Bank, which is the first branchless bank in Nigeria, has commenced operations in the country.

The bank secured its commercial banking license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in September 2015, which was first new commercial bank license awarded by CBN since 2001.

SunTrust Bank’s CEO Muhammed Jubrin said, “Our vision is to offer high quality retail and commercial banking services in a modern and innovative manner. We will use technology and a new way of thinking to provide banking services to many people and businesses in Nigeria for whom access to a bank account has previously been impossible”.

The bank, which started its journey almost six years ago as a mortgage bank, would now focus on offering telephone, mobile and internet banking services.

The focus on technology is expected to help the bank reap savings of around NGN100m ($311,284) to NGN120m ($373,540.8).

“Even our data centre is outsourced, this way we will not have the overbearing requirement to put on the generator at our locations,” Jubrin added.

SunTrust will not charge any fee from its customers for using ATMs of other banks.