One year after making a decisive break from industry norms, Sterling Bank is marking the anniversary of its Zero Transfer Fees policy, an initiative that has returned over ₦1.6 billion directly to customers, fundamentally reshaping the cost of everyday banking in Nigeria.
Launched on April 1, 2025, the policy eliminated transfer charges on Sterling’s digital platform, OneBank, making it the first major Nigerian bank to waive revenue from customer online transactions.
At its core, the decision was a deliberate redefinition of value in banking, shifting away from earning on customer activity, to enabling it.
In a market where fees had long been accepted as standard, Sterling’s move challenged the status quo and reframed the relationship between banks and the people they serve.
“We made a deliberate decision to stop charging for the movement of money and to build our model around delivering real value instead. One year on, the outcome has validated both the principle behind that choice and the strength of the model itself,” said Abubakar Suleiman, Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank.
Over the past 12 months, millions of customers have benefited from fee-free transfers, with adoption accelerating across individuals, small businesses, and digital-first users. Beyond the immediate financial relief, the policy has also contributed to increased transaction volumes, deeper financial inclusion, and stronger engagement with formal banking systems.
Sterling’s ability to sustain the initiative is rooted in its multi-year digital transformation strategy. The Bank has transitioned from legacy infrastructure to a wholly homegrown core banking platform, supported by a scalable private cloud environment built to handle exponential growth.
“Our transformation was never about technology for its own sake,” Suleiman added. “It was about building enduring capacity to serve, to scale, and ultimately to deliver more value to our customers. When that capacity matured, we made a conscious decision to return the benefits to the people who make the system work.”
Donatus Okpako, Chief Marketing Officer of Sterling Bank, described the anniversary as both a milestone and a signal of what comes next.
“This initiative has challenged long-held assumptions about how banks create value,” he said.
“We are demonstrating that it is entirely possible to run a strong, commercially sound institution while being fundamentally fair to customers. The ₦1.6 billion represents real relief, real impact, and a rebalancing in favour of the customer. That principle will continue to guide what we build next.”
He added that the Bank would continue to expand its offerings across payments, savings, and credit, with a sustained focus on improving financial outcomes and widening access for Nigerians.