http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/01/uba-e-banking-solutions-for-cash-less-expectations/
From tomorrow, Lagosians would not be able to cash cheques above N150,000. They must pay such cheques into their accounts. This is because tomorrow marks the commencement of the pilot scheme of the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
It started last year, when the CBN, in an attempt to discourage use of cash for payment and encourage use of electronic payment channels, introduced limits on free cash transactions, and charges imposed on cash transactions above that limit. For individuals, free cash transactions is limited to N150,000 and the charge is N100 per extra N1000 above this limit.
For corporate bodies free cash transaction is limited to N1 million and the charge is N200 for extra N1000 above the limit. The apex bank also banned banks from free cash pick up services for their customers. Although the implementation of the policy is schedule for June this year, the apex bank decided to test run the initiative in Lagos through a pilot scheme tagged Cash-less Lagos.
The purpose of the policy according to the CBN is to reduce the high usage of cash, moderate the cost of cash management and encourage the use of electronic payment channels.
In addition to industry efforts to encourage use of electronic payment channels, which include massive deployment of Point of Sale Channels (PoS) across the state, the CBN also expects banks to develop introduce electronic payment channels and encourage their customers to use them instead of cash. "Winners in the 'Cash-less' economy will be the proactive parties that identify opportunities, and who overcome challenges by developing appropriate solutions for their customers", said Eyitope St. Mathew-Daniel, Head, Shared Services, CBN.
It is in fulfillment of this expectation that UBA rolled out an array of electronic payment products all designed to facilitate cash-less banking transactions and payment of goods and service.
The products namely Afritrade, AfriCard, Africash and U-mobile, are designed to reduce to the barest minimum the need for customers to use cash for any transaction and also to extend banking to the unbanked. Three of the first three products are trade related and are meant to facilitate trade transactions across the continent. AfriCash is a secured electronic payment service that allows money transfer across African countries where UBA has a presence and can be collected within five minutes, payout been available in dollars and local currency.
AfriTrade is designed to give customers convenience in payments to third party in any part of the continent. Commenting on how the service works. Customers of AfriTrade are required to apply for trade transaction at any UBA business office with necessary documents while the initiating UBA location advises the benefiting UBA location in the country of the beneficiary and on receipt of transaction message, beneficiary is notified immediately via phone/e-mail and official written notification is sent within 24hours enclosing original copy of the transaction instrument where applicable, and goods are shipped (or services rendered) by beneficiary. AfriCard is a Visa Prepaid debit card variant which is set up without need for the customer to own/operate a bank account with UBA.
To compliment these UBA introduced U-mobile, the country's first mobile money services. With U-Mobile the customer will have a mobile account called U-Mo, created with the his/her telephone number. The customer operates the mobile account through his/her phone and can perform a range of banking transactions.
It is the product of the bank's partnership with Afri-Pay Limited, a mobile payments service provider offering mobile financial services to the unbanked and banked population across Africa.
Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Mr. Phillips Oduoza said the U-Mo mobile money services will revolutionize the banking industry just as the GMS has done in the telecom industry.
He said of the about 80 million Nigerian adults in the country, only 25 million people has bank accounts while the rest 55 million are unbanked, a situation he hope, mobile money would be able to remedy.
"U-Mo is an instant account opened on your mobile phone with just your contact details and mobile number. U-Mo then allows you to do banking transactions with your mobile account anytime, any day and with U-Mo, the customer can save money, send money to any mobile. pay with mobile, pay bills, buy airtime credit, withdrawal and deposit at any agent and UBA branch" Luqman Balogun, Divisional Head, e-Banking, UBA
He said U-Mo has a lot of benefits which makes it very attractive to customers than conventional bank accounts. These he said include zero no minimum balance, no maintenance fee no transaction fee for airtime credit, no COT, free SMS notifications for every transaction, and free online access to your account.
Dr. Yinka Adedeji, Chief Executive Officer, UBA/Afripay, said the product targeted mainly on the unbanked and semi-banked population provides the masses affordable banking services with embedded security features to ensure that users of the product do not experience loss of money.
U-mobile comes in three variants designed to ensure that all customer segments are covered. These are U-Mo Silver, U-Mo Gold and U-Mo Platinum. U-Mo Silver is for customers with very little information and it allows them to spend or pay up to N3,000.00 per transaction and up to N30,000.00 per day whilst U-Mo Gold is for customers with contact information and details.
A U-Mo Gold customer is allowed to spend or pay up to N10,000.00 per transaction and up to N100,000.00 per day" he explained.
U-Mo Platinum is for the more sophisticated customers who are allowed to spend or pay up to N100,000.00 per transaction and up to N1,000,000.00 per day. He said "to qualify for U-Mo Platinum you have to provide detailed information including a verified address and a reference.
On security of transactions on U-mo, Adedeji explained that U-Mo provides higher level of security than cards, given that you require four-digit Personal Identification Number (PIN) and possession of your mobile phone to perform any operation. He said that U-Mo Mobile money is available to all mobile subscribers irrespective of their mobile service provider i.e. Glo, Etisalat, MTN, Airtel, etc just as it is available for those with or without bank accounts in UBA.
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sludba Team
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