culled from: http://www.thisdaylive.com
Last year, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced cash-lite economy, aimed at reducing the volume of cash in circulation. With the kick-off of its pilot scheme in Lagos on January 1, 2012, the few banks licensed by CBN have commenced the use of alternative e-banking channels that will boost online financial transactions. Emma Okonji looks at some of the e-payment and online platforms introduced by UBA, and their importance in driving a cash-lite economy.
CBN's Initiative on Cash-lite
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), last year, concluded all arrangements for Nigeria to go cash-lite, by licensing 11 Mobile Money operators to commence a pilot scheme on cash-lite, beginning with Lagos, the commercial nerve of Nigeria. In technical parlance, cash-lite is an acronym for light cash in circulation. It was initially called cashless economy, but was changed to cash-lite at a stakeholders' forum organised by CBN last year, following protest that cashless denotes complete removal of cash from circulation, which negates the initiative of CBN to reduce to some reasonable extent, the number of cash flow in the country.
The cash-lite initiative is to help drive usage of alternative electronic products and channels for financial transactions. These electronic channels and products are secure, convenient, fast and reliable and do not have the short comings of cash such as bulkiness, slow transaction speed, cost of handling cash and risk of carrying cash.
Highlights of CBN's policy on cash-lite, include the implementation of the policy on cash-lite in Lagos from January 1st 2012. Only licensed Cash-in-Transit (CIT) companies shall be allowed to provide cash pick-up services. Banks will cease cash in transit lodgement services rendered to merchant-customers in Lagos from December 31st 2011.
Third 3rd party cheques above N150, 000 shall not be eligible for encashment over the counter. Any cheque issued with a value above N150,000 to a third party can only be deposited into an account as such cheques cannot be cashed.
Commencing from March 30, 2012, a daily cumulative limit of N150,000 and N1,000,000 on free cash withdrawals and lodgements by individual and corporate customers respectively shall be imposed. To this end, individuals and corporate organisations that make cash transactions above the limits will be charged a processing fee of N100/thousand and N200/thousand respectively for amounts above the cumulative limits.
Implications of Cash-lite Policies
Bank customers who enjoyed cash pick-up services from banks before
December 31 2011, would now have to either engage a licensed
Cash-In-Transit (CIT) company for their cash evacuations or encourage their own customer to make payments into their accounts via electronic means.
Where customers continue to make cash deposits or withdrawals, a processing charge would be borne by such customer, effective, 30 March, 2011, for all deposits or withdrawals above a daily cumulative limit of N150,000 and N1,000,000 by individual and corporate customers respectively. A cash processing fee of 10 percent for individuals and 20 percent for corporate customers shall be charged on all deposits and withdrawals above the daily limits. Cash withdrawals from ATMs shall form part of the daily cash withdrawal limits.
UBA Support for Cash-lite
With the restriction on cashing 3rd party cheques above N150,000 across the counter of banks, and other implications of the CBN's policy on cash-lite, the United Bank for Africa (UBA), one of the few licensed banks to operate Mobile Money says it has rolled out several e-banking and e-payment channels and products that could be used by its numerous customers to effect direct funds transfer to beneficiaries accounts without the need to write a cheque. Some of the products, according to UBA, would eliminate physical presence of customers from banks, when they desire to carryout out financial transactions.
According to Group e-Banking Manager for UBA, Mr. Luqman Balogun, the bank has come up with several e-Banking channels that will enable Nigeria not only drive cash-lite economy across the country, but will also help Nigeria as a nation in achieving her vision to be enlisted among the first twenty economies
of the world in the year 2020.
Balogun, who was in company of the Divisional Head, Marketing and Corporate Relations, Mr. Charles Aigbe and Head of Media, Mr. Ramon Nasir among other UBA staff, further explained that UBA came up with various forms of electronic cards, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Point of Sales (PoS), UBA Pay Manager, U-Direct, U-Mobile, among others, designed to support the successful implementation of cash-lite economy, not only in Lagos, but also across Nigeria through the banks'130 branches nationwide.
Virtual Banking Products
Addressing the role and importance of online banking products from UBA, such as U-Direct, U-Mobile, and Short Message Service (SMS Alert), Balogun said the products are capable of linking customers directly to their bank accounts and allow them to make financial transactions from their mobile phones, laptops, iPads, from the comfort of their homes, without their physical presence at the UBA banking halls.
U-Direct
U-Direct is UBA's internet banking platform providing all account holders access to their accounts (Savings, Current, Loan, etc). It is a secure web based solution and gives users the freedom to access their account from anywhere they are 24x7. With U-Direct, customers are able to conduct most transactions available within UBA branches but without having to visit the branch. They can make payments, transfer funds to other bank accounts (within and outside UBA), pay bills, and remit money.
In the spirit of CBN cash-lite initiative, U-Direct provides customers with a flexible platform for electronic financial transactions.
U-Mobile
U-Mobile brings complete convenience to banking. According to Divisional Head, Marketing and Corporate Relations for UBA, Mr. Charles Aigbe, 'It is your bank in your pocket.' He said using a mobile phone alone, customers can manage their bank accounts, savings or current, and carry out a wide range of financial transactions including instant funds transfer, bills payment, airtime top-up, payment for goods and services, balance enquiries among others. "All financial transactions on U-Mobile are secured by pin and password giving customers peace of mind. We have many of the common billers on U-Mobile, making it very easy for our customers to renew their satellite Tv subscription, pay utility bills. U-Mobile is an alternative payment solution," Aigbe said.
SMS Alerts
This is a real-time transaction notification service. Customers receive notifications on account transactions by Short Message Service (SMS) and/or e-mail. Most commonly, customers will receive the alert when there is a withdrawal from their account or a deposit into their account. By subscribing to SMS alerts customers are always up to date on transactions on their account as they do not need to visit a branch
PayManager
This is UBA's web-based electronic payment solution that enables electronic payment to any third party (suppliers/vendors, customers, Government, etc). With PayManager, customers can make payments from their account into accounts with any bank in the world. PayManager also supports foreign currency payments and international transfers. Foreign currency payments can be made from United States Dollars (USD), Euro and Great Britain Pound Sterling (GBP) accounts to pay any account in the world. PayManager has multiple layers of security to ensure that transactions are secured, protected and encrypted from initiation through to completion of the transaction. Hardware tokens also provide an additional layer of security. With PayManager, an organisations payment process becomes electronic. Checks and balances within the payment process are ensured with the in-built maker/checker mechanism which for instance prevents anyone who has raised a transaction voucher from approving the same transaction voucher. PayManager can process transactions singly or in batches.
Transactions can also be uploaded via excel file or from other accounting solution systems.
BankCollect
This is a multi-channel web-based collection solution, which enables collection or payment on behalf of government or corporate customers. Payments such as Airline ticket payments, insurance premiums, subscription payments, utility bills, can all be managed on the UBA BankCollect solution. Paying customers can go into any of UBA branches to make payments. With BankCollect, customers who own the collection account.
BankCollect is for customers who choose to have UBA as the only collecting bank through all the branches. BankCollect equally provides UBA with the capability to undertake cross border collections on customer behalf. When this is setup at customer request, any UBA branch in Africa can receive payment into the collection account. This is useful for organisations that have multi country operations and would like all their collections to be consolidated in one account. BankCollect supports cash payments, and payments using electronic channels such as PoS, ATM and online payment system. It is therefore Cash-Lite compliant as customers can make payments using their debit cards on PoS, and ATM.
U-Pay/U-Pay Connect
U-Pay is a web-based salary payment solution for small, medium and large organisations. It enables automated upload of salary information of employees for payment directly into employees' accounts in any bank. The UBA U-Pay solution allows upload of employees salary and account number for direct payment into their accounts, performs automatic payment of salaries, remittance of statutory deductions online (PAYE, pension, NHIS, loans repayment, etc.). U-Pay is parameterised and so it is flexible enough to meet client's specific needs. Paper usage is reduced as employees can view their payslips online.
Consolidated Internet Payment Gateway (CIPG)
This is UBA's Internet Payment Gateway developed to enable online payments on merchants' websites. CIPG provides the simplest and quickest method of integrating e-commerce websites to a secure payment gateway for the purpose of receiving payment for goods and services. CIPG presents a combination of local and international payment options to merchant customers on a unified web interface. Currently, CIPG accepts online payments from Visa, Mastercard, Verve and E-Tranzact payment cards. CIPG replaces or reduces the collection of cash by merchants as accounts are credited online and transactions can be done remotely by the public.
Point of Sales (PoS) Terminals
The Point of Sale terminal is a portable device that facilitates payments for goods and services using payment cards issued by banks on the VISA, MasterCard, InterSwitch and eTranzact card schemes. This can be deployed to customer locations on their request. UBA PoS terminals provide merchants with payment/collection services at sales outlets.
They provide an alternative and secure payment option. UBA PoS terminals accept all cards. With PoS terminals, merchants eliminate cash handling and the attendant risks. PoS terminals at merchant locations have the potential to increase revenue as both cash and non cash-carrying members can make payments at merchant locations.
Cards
UBA card portfolio includes Debit, Credit and Prepaid card products. UBA currently issues Visa cards and plans to issue MasterCard and Verve cards to give customers more options.
With the CBN's Cash-lite drive, it is expected that the usage of payment cards will significantly grow. PoS terminals will be readily available at more locations thus affording citizens the opportunity to use their cards for payment in more locations than before. Prepaid payment cards will also drive financial inclusion as citizens without bank accounts can use. Cards will largely drive the attainment of the goals of cash-lite given their popularity and wide spread acceptance.
ATM
Automated Teller Machines (ATM) provide the functions of a physical teller in the bank but in this case, the functions are automated. It is easy and convenient to use and is available 24x7. UBA ATMs provide several functions including balance enquiry, cash withdrawal, funds transfer, airtime top-up, change PIN. UBA ATMs support cardless transactions whereby money can be sent to anyone and the recipient simply walks up to a UBA ATM and accesses the cardless transaction, supplies the access codes and the ATM dispenses the cash.
UBA ATMs accept all card types: Visa, MasterCard, Verve and Genesis (ETranzact).
Kindest Regards
sludba Team
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Ikosi-Ketu Lagos-Nigeria234 805 783 8282
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