Phillip Oduoza, MD/CEO, United Bank for Africa
The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc announced on Friday the introduction of Value Added Services (VAS) on its point of sale (PoS) terminals.
The Bank said in a statement that with the new service on the UBA PoS terminals, UBA and non-UBA cardholders would be able to make payments for services such as airtime purchase, cable subscription, electricity, water and other bill payments.
According to the statement, the service has already been rolled out with selected merchants with plans to conclude deployment by next month.
UBA has thousands of PoS terminals deployed across Africa, according to the statement.
With the new service, cardholders can now pay their bills for consumption of electricity, pay TV operators, telecoms operators, regulated lottery and gaming companies, utility companies, schools fees, government fees, taxes and dues as well as buy airline tickets on UBA PoS.
Similarly, the bank has announced the introduction of SmartMoney prepaid card.
According to the bank, a new world of online shopping, travel and dining awaits African youths that subscribe to the new “Smartmoney,” a specially designed prepaid card targeted at the younger generation.
It said the card would initially be issued in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Burkina Faso and by early 2015 in all the 19 countries across Africa where it has operations.
“Smartmoney comes as a prepaid card that is easy to use, convenient and safe, with chip and PIN technology, you can load up and explore every corner of the globe and web the easy, convenient way,” the Divisional Head, e-banking of the UBA Group, Dr. Yinka Adedeji said.
SmartMoney card is widely accepted card in more than 1.6 million Visa ATMs worldwide, 24 hours a day, and seven days a week. The Smartmoney prepaid card can also be linked to UBA’s popular mobile banking platform “U-Mobile” enabling holders of the card to access banking services on their phones no matter where they are globally.
“SmartMoney also gives you an all time online access to the visa travel planner, with which you can create your very own travel guidebook using Lonely Planet content, Visa offers and ATM locations,” it added.
A major attraction of SmartMoney prepaid cards is that users can load the exact amount they want to spend on the card. This ensures that they are able to effectively manage their spending plans while travelling or when they go shopping.
