UBA launches new e-Payment portal

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has introduced an online payments and collections platform known as U-bills.

The move is to transform e-commerce in Africa as it has been enabled in all the 19 countries where UBA operates.

U-bills, is a collection and bill payments platform that allows sellers to collect payments online or on their mobile devices such as 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 their devices. 

A statement issued by the bank quoted the Divisional Head,           e-banking, Yinka Adedeji, as saying that “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.”  

It also said with U-bills, customers had the flexibility to make online payments anytime of the day, 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 as you are African and 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,” she said.

Also, 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 who have registered on U-Bills to receive payments include leading telecom operators such as MTN (top-up and post-paid), Etisalat, Glo, and Airtel.  Customers of these telecom operators registered on U-Bills can buy airtime or top up on the U-Bills platform. 

It said other service providers currently registered on the U-Bills platform included: Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), Abuja Geographic Information Systems, Bells University of Technology Limited, among others. 

The U-Bills platform, the statement said, accepted VISA and MasterCard ,as well as the local card schemes and other payment platforms in the different countries where UBA operates. 

“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,” it said, adding that “U-Bills has no monthly or annual charges; all charges are based on transactions and are country specific.”