UBA and Cellulant Launch Payments Gateway

The volume of global cashless transactions is set to grow by more than 80% between 2020 and 2025 according to the Payments 2025 & Beyond Report by PWC. In recent years, individuals and businesses alike have adopted digital payments reshaping the entire payments infrastructure.

“Organizations are increasingly going cashless; from global businesses such as airlines to local restaurants, or instagram businesses and schools,” remarked Faith Nkatha, Country Manager, Cellulant Kenya at a UBA Kenya and Cellulant customer launch event.

Happening at the Norfolk Hotel on Tuesday, 10th May 2022, the Kenya event followed the Pan-African Group partnership between The United Bank for Africa PLC and leading Pan-African payments company Cellulant announced in March 2022.

Speaking to trends in payment behaviors, Faith said “How organizations and businesses make and collect payments has radically shifted in the last two or three years. Students or parents queuing to make payments at the bursar, churches giving envelopes to collect offerings, restaurants receiving cash payments or real estate agents going round to collect rent; all these are quickly becoming outdated as collection methods.”

The event brought together some 30 institutions across the FMCG, insurance, education, diplomatic and the public sectors, showcasing the new digital platform that will provide a seamless way to make payments, manage collections and reconciliations. The digital solution is set to help businesses aggregate payments in a single view which will assist in efficient collection, reconciliation and quick decision making.

Speaking on the partnership, Mr Chike Isiuwe, The CEO, UBA Kenya said: ‘At UBA Kenya, customer experience remains our key focus and this partnership ensures that we constantly provide easy, efficient and timely innovative solutions to meet the ever changing needs of our customers. This solution will change how individuals make payment and how merchants and institutions collect as it eases the process while also reducing transaction costs.”

UBA Kenya which started operations in Kenya in October 2009 with a business focus on local and international Corporates, SME’s, Public and Private Institutions. Over the years the Bank has grown its footprint to 5 branches across the country with recently opened branches in Nakuru and Mombasa. UBA Kenya has an ambitious growth strategy which includes expansion in key towns in Kenya as well as upscaling of its digital solutions through the Bank’s new Innovation Hub at their new Head Office at Imperial Court, Westlands.

“Digitisation plays a pivotal role in the financial lives of Kenyans today and the platform aligns with current customer payment behaviors and is expected to spur growth for local businesses, contributing positively to the expansion of the country’s economy.” added Mr. Chike.

Cellulant, founded in 2003, has an extensive payments infrastructure partnering with 46 mobile-money operators in Africa, 211 banks including UBA Group and serves 35 African countries with a physical presence in 18.

“Fintechs and banks collaborations open more opportunities that make the movement of money easier for businesses and their consumers across all sectors of the economy. Through strategic partnerships, Cellulant is accelerating the drive for financial inclusion and economic wellbeing in Kenya and across the African continent. Our partnership with UBA in Kenya will enable merchants to receive, view, and reconcile all their payments via a single application programming interface (API), cutting out the need to sign up for multiple payment providers,” Faith Nkatha Gitonga, Country Manager, Cellulant Kenya.