Case Study
Turning a two-week, branch-bound loan process into a self-service product that disbursed ₦12.8 billion in its first year.
EZ Cash is Stanbic IBTC's flagship unsecured-loan product, giving eligible customers instant access to short-term financing for personal, education, or business needs, entirely without branch visits or documentation.
I led UX from customer research through to a launched, multi-channel product, with particular focus on the web experience.
Getting a loan meant a branch visit, lengthy paper forms, and waiting up to two weeks for a decision. I ran stakeholder engagements and brainstorming sessions with the product and lending teams. The same frustrations surfaced every time.
I distilled research into two personas: Sarah, a marketing executive who valued fast, simple access to credit, and Ibrahim, a mobile-first engineer who wanted a straightforward, trustworthy digital experience. Journey mapping made the friction impossible to ignore.
"Enable existing bank customers to access loans in a convenient, secure, and user-friendly way, overcoming the limitations of traditional branch-based banking."
Problem statement
Working with the bank units involved in lending, I ran brainstorming sessions to pressure-test ideas against the problem statement. Four core features emerged.
Real-time status check against credit-bureau data via account and phone number only.
Derived from existing bank records, transaction history, and spend behaviour.
See repayment amount and interest rate before committing to an application.
Clear, manageable repayment options laid out upfront with no hidden terms.
I sketched the first task flow on paper to test ideas fast, then moved to mid- and high-fidelity designs. MVP1 proved the core flow: account check, credit decision, disbursement. MVP2 expanded into a full experience: OTP verification, dashboard, top-up loans, repayment management, and loan history.
I ran usability testing with representative users on the prototype, analysing feedback to drive iterative changes before launch.
EZ Cash launched as Stanbic IBTC's flagship lending product. The web experience I designed contributed to ₦12.8 billion disbursed in the first year, and customers embraced self-service across every channel.
USSD outperforming the mobile app revealed how much of the market preferred lightweight, accessible channels, a key insight for a product serving a broad customer base.
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