E-commerce in Africa is set to receive a boost as United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has introduced an online payments and collections platform tagged U-bills. The online payment platform has been enabled in all the 19 countries where UBA has operations.
U-bills, is a collection and bill payments platform that allows sellers to collect payments online or on their mobile devices like tablets and smart phones.
It also provides a one-stop platform for customers to make payments for goods and services on their mobile phones, tablets or personal computers as long as they have an internet connection on the devices.
“The uniqueness of the U-Bills platform is that it is a single payment gateway where all forms of payments to different merchants can be made. It is not a single-merchant platform. All merchants can register on U-Bills to receive payments for goods and services. Also, anyone can go online and register to make payments for goods and services bought” explained Yinka Adedeji, Divisional Head, e-banking.
With U-bills, customers have the flexibility to make online payments anytime of the day or night or week to sellers for goods bought or services rendered.
“This means, it no longer matters where you are in the world. So far you are African and are from any of the Countries where UBA is, you can now pay your bills, top up phones of your loved ones and still pay for services without moving an inch.”
Customers registered on U-Bills can recharge their mobile phones, pay their cable TV bills quickly and easily and pay their utility bills in any of the 19 countries in Africa where UBA has operations.
Already, some top merchants that have registered on U-Bills to receive payments include leading telecom operators like; MTN (top-up and post-paid), Etisalat, Glo, and Airtel. Customers of these telecom operators registered on U-Bills, can buy air-time or top-up on the U-Bills platform.
Other service providers currently registered on the U-Bills platform include; Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), Abuja Geographic Information Systems, Bells University of Technology Limited among others.
Any type of registered business, small or big, providers of services or sellers of goods, can register on the U-Bills platform to receive payment for goods and services offered for sale.
The U-Bills platform accepts VISA and MasterCard as well as the local Card schemes and other payment platforms in the different countries where UBA has its operations.
Merchants must be UBA account holders to register to use U-Bills which will be activated on a Merchant’s platform within 72 hours of registration. U-Bills has no monthly or annual Charges. All charges are based on transactions and are country specific.
Payments on the U-Bills platform are safe and secure and protected by the best in class IT security features that is line with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards for card payments.
U-Bills is just one of the latest payment options from the UBA Group, an acknowledged leader in the African e-payment banking space.
A highly diversified financial services provider and one of the largest financial institutions in Africa, with business offices in New York and Paris and a subsidiary in London, The UBA Group controls significant market share in 19 different African countries.
The Group has a strong retail penetration across the African continent with more than 10 million customers who enjoy a bouquet of products and services tailored to meet their different financial needs and backed by a cutting edge e-banking platform that offers secured and convenient real-time online banking services.
