COVID-19: UBA targets financial inclusion, contactless banking with new upgrades

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) has upgraded its banking channels to deepen financial inclusion and encourage contactless banking.

This comes after health experts warned that banknotes could increase the chances of spreading the coronavirus.

New features were added to the bank’s internet banking, mobile application, Unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) channel, MSME banking, retail and diaspora banking.

Unveiling the upgrades, Samson Aneke, UBA group head of digital banking, said the upgrades were necessary to provide the best possible value for customers while availing them several opportunities.

“We listened to our customers and we have come up with ways to improve their experiences across all our services.

“We have created a beneficiary list where employers can pay salaries using group transfers. Within three minutes, you can pay salaries to your staff even those who have accounts with other banks.

“We also improved the security feature on our USSD channel so if you swapped your number in the last 30 days, the app refers to the customer care centre to validate the user.

“This will help to reduce the incidents of fraud.”

Jude Anele, the group head for consumer and retail banking, said customers can now make transfers to telephone numbers.

“The most cost-effective to reach unbanked is through the mobile phone and that is what we are trying to leverage on with this feature,” he said.

Other products announced by the bank include quick loans, auto loans, cinema and flight ticket purchases in the lifestyle section, food orders, medical consultations and group savings.