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5 best virtual banks in Nigeria.

The first one here is my favorite and most used, continue reading to find out why.....

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virtual bank hero
(pixabey | mohamed hassan) edit - isaac | All Round Review

Today we will be talking about banks. Not just any bank, but the top 5 virtual banks in Nigeria. The first one here is my favorite and most used, continue reading to find out why.

The 5 best virtual banks

  1. Standard chartered
  2. Kudabank
  3. VPD
  4. Vbanking
  5. Palmpay

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1. Standard chartered

standard chartered

Standard Chartered is a well-grounded bank, but despite being a well-known bank globally. Its foothold in the Nigerian financial sector isn't as publicized as other commercial banks.

One of the main reasons for this is because standard chartered Bank operations are usually online. They have very few scarce offline branches but have a major footprint on the online banking sector.

If you are a fan of English football you must have seen the boldly written standard chartered Bank on Liverpool's team Jersey. Yes, I know, now you do too.

Standard chartered is not your every day or usual bank, as they have certain options and services that make it impossible for you to try them and go back to your previous bank.

Benefits of using Standard chartered

  1. Free Visa gold card. After opening an account with standard chartered, you are required to upgrade it (upgrade is totally free) from instant savings to at least instant savings plus to receive a visa gold card free of charge including delivery to any location in Nigeria.
  2. Transfers to other local banks in Nigeria are completely free any day, anytime (as at the time of writing this review).
  3. No charges for using your atm card in Nigeria at any atm machine, your visa gold card is globally accepted in any atm machine worldwide.
  4. When you register your visa gold card, you get points for using your atm card. These points can be exchanged for goods and services.
  5. You are completely in charge of how you use your atm card, as there is an abundance of settings within the app to manage how you use your atm card.
  6. No atm card maintenance fee, or account maintenance fee charges.
  7. USSD access in case of no Internet or smartphone.
  8. Sms alert for activities and transactions.

These and many more features are what you get when you choose to bank with standard chartered. Also, standard chartered Bank is a fully licensed bank under CBN, standard chartered Bank also has its banking prowess in almost every country on planet earth.

If any bank was going to Mars with Elon Musk, standard chartered it will be.

Requirements to open an account with standard chartered.

  • Bvn.
  • Valid ID card.
  • Proof of residence bill payment. (if you have these ready).
  • Selfie image.
Downlond on Google Play

2. Kudabank

Second, on the list is kudabank. Unlike standard chartered, kudabank is a microfinance bank whose main aim is to reduce the financial burden from fees through payments.

Kudabank has numerous features within the app, and also offers a Web access portal where you can monitor the activities of your account and even make transactions on the Web without logging in to your kuda mobile app.

Features of KUDABANK.

  • 40 free transfers to another bank monthly.
  • Free debit master card. [a minimum balance of ₦1000 is required]
  • Free virtual card [a minimum of ₦1000 is required]
  • No card or account maintenance fee.

Please note: that the minimum balance of ₦1000 will not be deducted for either of the card requests. The balance is required to affirm that the kuda account is active and in use.

Requirements to open an account with kudabank.

  • Bvn.
  • Valid ID.
  • A selfie 😉
Downlaod on Google play

3. VPD

vpd

When we talk of virtual banking, VPD is the alpha description of what a virtual bank is. No offline base. VPD offers only a virtual card, as a limitation on how much can be transferred out of an account which is a 500 naira minimum transfer.

But, VPD is the fastest when it comes to the processing of a virtual card. You get your virtual master card in less than 5 minutes after requesting it. Kuda takes more than 24hours, and for standard chartered your physical visa card is your virtual card.

VPD offers a cashback feature that stores every billed transaction you make with your VPD account and allows you access to these funds after 90 days. [I am yet to try out this at the time of typing this].

VPD is also the easiest account to create when you apply for an account upgrade. It takes approximately 48hours for your account to be successfully upgraded.

You can also open sub currency accounts under your main account with VPD.

Features of VPD

  • Free Virtual master card.
  • Free transfers to other banks.
  • Easy to create an account.
  • Multiple currency accounts support.
  • No account or virtual card maintenance fee.
  • Cashback on all billed transactions.

Requirements to open an account with VPD

  • BVN
  • Valid ID card. 
Download on Google play

4. Vbanking

vbanking

Hmm. Vbanking would have appeared as the first on the list, but dropped down to fourth due to a bitter and disappointing experience I had with them a few weeks ago, what was even more shocking was how I had to find out.

Apologizes for telling this story here if you were not expecting to read this, but you need to know as it's our priority to give you details on whatever we publish here. Trust they say go both ways.

I made it a priority to read every app's terms and conditions to avoid being surprised by an action or inaction based on terms and conditions rules.

Someone sent me money for medical needs, I decided to use Vbanking to receive the money since it's been a while I used the bank, unfortunately for me, as soon as the money was credited to my Vbanking account. I was denied access to the money in the account.

When I contacted Vbanking on Twitter and through the mail, I was told that I left my account for a long and though Vbanking never sent me a notification that my account needed me to transact with it to avoid getting locked or that even if they are a MICROFINANCE bank they operate as a commercial bank, none of that or any form of warning was sent. Hear this; no part of their terms and conditions states that you can't leave your account with/without money in it for as long as you want, so please. Take note of this for future reference.

As we have established above, Vbanking is a microfinance bank and comes with perks like interest in your savings account and fixed deposit options for planned savings.

Features of Vbanking.

  • Free transfers to other local banks.
  • Interest rate on the account balance.
  • Sms alert. (no charge).
  • Ussd support.
  • Multiple beneficiaries support.

Requirements to open an account with Vbanking

  • Bvn
  • Valid ID
  • Selfie image
Download on Google play

5. Palmpay

Not many people know that palmpay is actually a bank. So yes, palmpay is a bank. PalmPay is duly licensed by CBN for all payment needs.

A few weeks ago, palmpay would be second on this list but they dropped further after cutting down on certain advantages that used to be available only with palmpay.

Now with palmpay you lose the previous 3 free transfers daily, no more 500naira coupon vouchers are available for exchange with 50k gems. Bear in mind, palmpay does not support any form of virtual or physical atm card, no SMS alert, and no ussd or Web access to your account should you be without your registered smartphone.

Unlike the above-listed banks, with palmpay you cannot log in to your palmpay account on another smartphone if a palmpay account was previously registered on that smartphone. If your battery dies and your friend or spouse has palmpay on their device, you cannot log them out and log in.

For a banking platform that neither supports SMS alerts or Web access, this is surely a sting in the butt.

Features of Palmpay

  • Best bill payment banking app.
  • Best referral reward programs.
  • PalmPay rewards you for every transaction you make on the app, these include airtime, electricity bill, TV subscriptions e.t.c payments you make on the app.

Requirements to open a palmpay account.

  • A smartphone that has not been previously registered with palmpay
  • A working sim card
  • BVN (if you desire to upgrade your account to increase your account limit from ₦30,000 as the maximum account balance)
Download on Google Play

There you have them, the top 5 virtual banks in Nigeria, if you have any suggestions or feel we left out any details as regards any of the above-mentioned banks. Kindly reach out to us on any of the available platforms listed, preferably, do give us a mention on twitter

Until the next one, ZesusHV signing you on. From all of us here at Allroundreview, We wish you a blessed Ramadan.

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