Digital channels aid 70% deposit growth at UBA

• Bank pioneers email banking in Nigeria

United Bank for Africa (UBA) is profiting from its huge investments in technology, as its various digital channels currently aid 70 per cent of incoming transactions at the bank.

Besides, the bank, which claimed to have over 10 million accounts in its 19 branches across Africa, informed that outflow transactions is over 80 per cent, aided still by the digital channels, which include the Automated Teller Machines (ATM); Point of Sales (PoS) terminals, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Scheme (NIBSS) Instant Payment, Internet and mobile banking, among others.

Speaking to journalists in Lagos on how innovations are aiding the growth of UBA, Head, Consumer and Digital Banking, Yinka Adedeji, said there has been low emphasis on building of bricks and mortals, stressing that the focus has been to bring convenience and innovation to its customers electronically.

Adedeji, who informed that UBA has eight million bank accounts in Nigeria, disclosed that to further bring services easier and more convenient, the bank has introduced another products, called emailMoni.

According to him, the new service, which is in agreement with MyECheck, would enable UBA to provide a revolutionary new social commerce payment system.

EmailMoni, he explained is the world’s newest game changing technology, which will dramatically advance the payments landscape in Nigeria and across Africa.

“EmailMoni is a next generation payments technology that enables people and businesses to securely send and receive money electronically in real-time and at low cost using a downloadable mobile smartphone app or from a web app. The EmailMoni web app can be accessed from any mobile device, any browser or any type of internet connected computer.

“EmailMoni allows people and businesses to pay and receive electronic payments securely in a number of easily accessible and convenient ways. Users can send and request money instantly using Microsoft Outlook email, or any web mail. Money can also be securely requested and sent using Facebook, SMS text and other methods,” he stated.

Adedeji said the new service can be accessed on iOS on the Apple App Store and for Android on Google Play, stressing that the EmailMoni mobile app for smartphones will over time, interact with a card-less ATM network using Quick Response (QR) code enabling cash to be deposited and withdrawn from the system at thousands of ATM locations in Nigeria and across Africa.

“We are proud to open a new frontier for e-payments in Africa with EmailMoni. This conforms with our desire to continuously deliver innovative and convenient payment options to our customers. Our innovations in the digital banking space have been possible because of our huge investments in building efficient, trustworthy platforms. We assure our customers that we are committed to continually bring the best in the financial technology space to ensure they always have the best and most convenient banking experience with all our service channels” he stressed.

The UBA chief said the focus of the bank now is technology, stressing that the bank is looking at various ways of providing convenience to the customers.

He disclosed that the bank now have about 1800 ATM terminals, with a monthly transactions of about N100 billion, while Internet and mobile banking channels transaction is now about N50 billion.