UBA to unveil Whitepaper on Africa's financial infrastructure - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

Africa's Global Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, is set to reinforce its role in shaping the continent's financial ecosystem with the launch of its landmark whitepaper.

The whitepaper, titled "Banking on Africa's Future: Unlocking Capital and Partnerships for Sustainable Growth," will be unveiled on the sidelines of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings in October 2025 in Washington, D.C., placing Africa's economic agenda at the heart of global financial discussions.

UBA Foundation raises education grant to N22.5m for 2025 national essay competition - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The UBA Foundation, corporate social responsibility arm of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has announced that winners of the 2025 edition of its annual National Essay Competition (NEC) will receive educational grants worth over ₦22.5 million to study at any African university of their choice, reports ITREALMS.

According to the Foundation, this year’s first-prize winner will receive a ₦10 million university grant, representing a 33% increase from the ₦7.5 million awarded in 2024. The second and third-place winners will receive ₦7.5 million and ₦5 million respectively, also reflecting increases from the previous ₦5 million and ₦3.5 million.

USSD code debt: Zenith, Fidelity, UBA, Sterling, 5 others may be disconnected - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

A total of nine banks may be disconnected before end of this month due to unpaid debt arising from deployment of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) Codes with Zenith, Fidelity, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Sterling Bank leading the list, reports ITREALMS.

Other financial institutions that may be affected include First City Monument Bank, Jaiz Bank Plc, Polaris Bank Limited, Unity Bank Plc, and Wema Bank Plc.

UBA sponsors Lagos International Trade Fair for sixth year, reaffirms support African SMEs - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The Africa's global bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc is sponsoring this year’s edition of the Lagos International Trade Fair (LITF), which marks the sixth in the series as the official financial partner, reports ITREALMS.

The LITF 2024, ITREALMS gathered is the 38th edition organised annually by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), and is scheduled to take place at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, between November 1st to 10th, 2024.

GOCOP@Kogi'24: Partners NCDMB, EMADEB, Dangote, NCAA, Setraco, UBA, NCC, others - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

 

Partners for the eighth annual conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) have begun to emerge with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Emadeb Group and Dangote Group leading the train of partners for the event slated for Thursday, October 3, 2024 at the Reverton Hotel, GRA Lokoja, Kogi State.

The chairman of the 2024 Conference Planning Committee, Danlami Nmodu, mni, also listed other partners to include Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Setraco Nigeria Limited, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), according to a statement by

GOCOP Publicity Secretary, Sir Remmy Nweke.

Privacy right: Court orders UBA to pay customer N8m for gross violation - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The United Bank of Africa (UBA) Plc in Nigeria has been ordered to pay its customer N8,000,000 only for gross violation of her right to data privacy in a matter funded by Paradigm Initiative (PIN) through its digital rights reporting platform Ripoti, reports ITREALMS.

The bank was found liable for unilaterally opening a domiciliary account for Miss Folashade Molehin without her consent, breaching her right to data privacy.

UBA 's 47.5% growth in gross-earnings bluster profit @₦61.4bn - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!


Acclaiming Africa’s global bank, the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has released its unaudited results for the first quarter ended March 31st, 2023, recording remarkable growth across all its major income lines, reports ITREALMS.

The Bank’s result which was released to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday, April 13, 2023 showed that gross earnings rose by 47.5 percent from ₦183.9 billion to ₦271.2 billion; while Interest Income which stood at ₦125.9 billion as at March 2022, grew by 53.4% to ₦191.9 billion in the quarter under consideration.

UBA Foundation calls for essay entries, dangles N2.2m

ITRealms:

The corporate social responsibility arm of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, the UBA Foundation, has called for entries for the 2017 edition of its annual UBA Foundation National Essay Competition in Nigeria, dangles N2,250,000 for grabs, reports ITRealms.

The essay contest, ITRealms gathered is for Senior Secondary School (SSS) students organized as part of UBA Foundation’s education initiative to promote a reading culture and encourage healthy as well as intellectual competition amongst secondary school students in Nigeria and across Africa.

Speaking Tuesday at the bank’s headquarters in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of UBA Foundation, Mrs. Bola Atta, said the essay competition is for all SSS students across the country, provides an opportunity for students to win prizes in the form of educational grants to help them realise their goals in life.

“We are well aware that if you help get one child educated, you help support an entire family as that child will eventually positively impact his or her community. The competition is a key aspect of our investment drive in human capital and we will continue to sustain the initiative because education is very important to UBA and we are more than committed to providing the necessary support for students in Nigeria and throughout the African continent,” she said.

She explained that each year, the bank donates thousands of books to students in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, under the ‘Read Africa’ initiative to encourage and promote the reading culture in secondary schools.

“We are driven by the mantra to do well and do good and we will not relent in our efforts at touching lives through our various projects, and initiatives,” she told the excited students.

According to her, the first prize for the UBA National Essay Competition is a N1 million educational grant for the winner to study in any African university of his or her choice while the second and third prizes are N750,000 and N500,000 educational grants respectively.

She explained that entries received from students for the competition will be reviewed by a distinguished panel of judges made up of professors from reputable Nigerian Universities, who will then shortlist 12 best essays for further assessment. A second round of the competition will involve the 12 finalists who will write a second supervised essay from which three best essays will be selected. “Three best essays will be selected as the overall winners from 12 finalists that will emerge from the first round of the competition,” she noted.

Atta explained that the choice of essay for this year’s competition is one that helps promote creative and analytical thinking in students. The students are to develop a manual on any chosen form of technology or innovation (real or imagined) and make this manual discernable for the simplest of minds

It is important to note that apart from Nigeria, the national essay competition is also held in other African countries including Ghana and Senegal with more countries to be rolled out in the first quarter of 2018.

Equally speaking, the Deputy CEO, Anglophone Africa, Ebele Ogbue, said that knowledge is power and the only effective way to transform Africa is through Education. “Undoubtedly, the future of any nation rests on the younger generation. Hence, the legacy passed on by the preceding generation could make a nation. Therefore, investing in the future of the youths is key to redeeming the economy for the collective good. This is why UBA’s support of education across Africa is relentless,” he stated.

As a the CSR platform for the UBA Group, UBA Foundation embodies the Group’s CSR objectives and seeks to impact positively on the society through a number of laudable projects and initiatives.

Uj. N. Dominic/GEE 

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

UBA, Injoo, others applaud Techplus’17

ITRealms:

The Technology-Techplus Conference and Exhibition, that held last week at Landmark event centre, Lagos; brands have continued to share the massive gains the platform provided for quality consumer engagement and direct sales in various categories.

Techplus 2017 offered top players from the banking, e-commerce, Telco, health care, ICT,  Education, Advertising and many other sectors an opportunity to show case their products and services. Brands such as UBA, Innjoo, Stanbic IBTC, Wema Bank, Remitta, Sage, Samsung, Lenovo, Jumia, Avon HMO, HP, were not left out

Rakesh Rocque, Country Manager, Innjoo Technology was full of praises for the organizers for creating a platform that enhanced direct engagement between consumers and the brands, and allowing for on-the-spot feedback and idea sharing. He said, not only was it a good marketing platform for effective networking and building of business contacts, the classes were quite informative and educating. “We will continue to key into the advantage of Techplus platform annually’’ he added.

In his comments, Nonso Nduanya, Customer Service, Product Marketing, UBA, noted that, it was the banks’ first experience at Techplus, saying ‘he was impressed with the organization and customers response to the offerings was rewarding. He added that, if such huge platform is spread across major cities in Nigeria, it will help to foster consumer-brand relationships”.

Still on a high positive note, Kehinde John, an exhibitor with Avon, a premium health Management Company revealed that Techplus 2017 has been a great experience in terms of contacts, quality of participants, good environment and remarkable support from the organizers. “Very few participants would not want a repeat after this type of excitement that was sustained for three consecutive days. I know the organizers will raise the bar next year” she said.

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Why Innovectives partnered MasterCard, UBA, Konga on e-Commerce - Agha

ITRealms:

The certified mobile point of sale [mPOS] service provider, Innovectives has explained why the firm is collaborating with the trio of MasterCard, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Konga on e-commerce, reports ITRealms.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive officer, Innovectives, Mr. Emmanuel Agha, gave this explanation, saying the company was created as a seamless delivery and payment system by integrating mPOS solution into Konga's services. 

“Payments on mPOS are 100 per cent secure. It is accepted on all local and international cards,” he said, stressing that Kesh mPOS, powered by Innovectives and supported by MasterCard and UBA will make it easier for Konga customers to pay for their orders and enhance payment acceptance while making reconciliation easy for Konga customers and sales agents.

The new mPOS, he also said, accepts MasterCard, Visa and Verve cards from all banks, and it enables Konga delivery agents to easily capture sales. Just as other cards accepted on mPOS are UnionPay, Freedom Card and Genesis cards.

“Customers can also confirm payments on the spot thus improving accountability in e-commerce transactions,” Agha assured.

Emphasising that the level of e-commerce transactions conducted in Nigeria in the past three years has increased exponentially but the challenge is that 95 per cent of the transactions are pay-on-delivery, which largely involve settling with cash.

“Our mPOS solution is designed to improve the delivery process and reduce cash handling in the entire order fulfilment process as well as make reconciliation seamless" he said, adding that the company has partnered with Konga and integrated the innovative payment solution because it offers Nigerians who are increasingly shopping online sheer convenience. MPOS offers a significant improvement in transparency in the way customers pay for their goods.

Konga has adopted convenient, cutting edge and secure payment solutions to reduce cash handling and enhance the shopping experience for its customers.

For the Divisional Head, Digital Banking, UBA, Dr. Yinka Adedeji explained that Konga delivery would be able to accept payments from a phone like POS terminal. “UBA is powering this with its advanced digital payments technology.”

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

UBA partners Yudala to make Mobile Monday shopping easier

ITRealms:

Following the burgeoning of its Mobile Monday innovation, Yudala on Monday entered into partnership with foremost financial institutions with the United Bank for Africa (UBA) to make shopping easier, reports ITRealms.

Disclosing this, the founder, Yudala, Prince Nnamdi Ekeh informed ITRealms that among the special packages witnessed last Monday was a partnership with UBA to offer shoppers an exclusive deal on the Infinix Hot Note complete with a free pouch for UBA card holders.

Yudala, Ekeh said has also offered shoppers a chance to enjoy special deals during a flash sale at specific hours on Monday, with huge price slashes witnessed on select devices at 12pm, 3pm and 6pm.

“Customers had gone on a rampage to get the most subscribed deal of the day - HP 250 G4 Notebook which came with a free bag and F&D V10 2.0 Speaker,” he said.

Further, Ekeh said, additional surprise for shoppers was the introduction of the Samsung 20” TV flash on sale.

Shoppers, he pointed out could buy all kinds of mobile devices on every day of the week from Yudala, however, he revealed that the company has decided to set aside Mondays as a unique day on which special deals and mouth-watering deals on various mobile devices could be enjoyed.

“Although mobile devices are on sale every day of the week at Yudala, we have decided to set aside every Monday in 2016 as a day on which our esteemed customers can get the best prices and surprise deals on mobile devices from the best, the biggest and most renowned brands,” he said.

“Through the Yudala Mobile Monday, we are offering Nigerians an opportunity to meet their needs and upgrade their lifestyles at a cost that makes sense in line with the current atmosphere of reduced earnings.

Ekeh expressed confident that in no time, this promotion will certainly occupy the minds as the biggest single day sales of mobile devices in the country.

“We’re seeing the signs of this movement from Nigerians already and on our part, we will keep doing our best to ensure we make the best mobile devices available at the right prices every Monday,” he assured.

ITRealms recalls that Yudala launched into the market late quarter of last year with great panache and marketing blitz, successfully expanding the nation’s e-commerce and offline retail space with several innovative strategies including the first ever drone delivery in Africa, Neighbour-to-Neighbour Mega Deals, Gyming with the Stars series, Monthly Mid-Day Madness and Yu-jara and pride itself as Nigeria’s largest festive Seasons Sales, among others, for genuine products and for being the fastest pay on delivery composite e-commerce company in the country.

 
+ITRealms DSA  
ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

UBA acquires, deploys CLIREC in 17 countries

ITRealms:

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) has acquired and deployed a-state-of-the-art accounts reconciliation software, CLIREC, across all branches in Nigeria and global operations in 17 countries, reports ITRealms.

Confirming this, the Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of Precise Financial Systems (PFS), Philip Ayeni, in a press statement made available to ITRealms, said that CLIREC gives UBA control of its internal systems, particularly as “it concerns the reconciliation of Electronic Funds Transfer [EFT] transactions.”

CLIREC, he told ITRealms, brings to UBA a culture of timely, accurate and reliable accounts reconciliation system. 

He also explained that the application will run in the bank’s operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Liberia, Benin and Cameroon. Other countries are Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, Congo, Zambia, Tanzania, Gabon, Chad, Congo DR and Mozambique. 

According to Ayeni, the application, provides UBA a completely stress-free method of staying in control of all reconcilable accounts across the organization while optimizing its human resources.

“The software integrates all classes of reconciliation efforts in the bank: primary departments and regions managing the accounts, control and audit reports requirement, users access to the system irrespective of location or responsibility and direct interface of the platform with the bank’s core banking application for data integrity and accuracy,” he said.

He pointed out that the company’s solution would be the foundation of accurate accounts reconciliation in the banking sector, adding that its wealth of experience in the financial industry backed by strong local service “is an asset to organizations in Nigeria and Africa.”

 

 +ITRealms DSA +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +United Bank for Africa 
ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

UBA tops‘Prepaid Innovative Product of the Year’ 2015

  

 ITRealms

   
 

 United Bank for Africa (UBA) Cameroon has topped the "Prepaid Innovative Product of the Year" award for its innovative "Cobranded Student ID Visa Prepaid" concept in the 2015 edition of the Visa sponsored Prepaid Summit in Middle East,ITRealms reports.

UBA’s emergence came with "Cobranded Student ID Visa Prepaid"which aims to provide universities and students with a multi-function Visa card.

 
 The event which held in Dubai, according to the company press release by the Africa Press Organisations and made available to ITRealms indicated that over 150 leading participants were in attendance.

ITRealms equally reports that various awards were presented during a ceremony to regional financial institutions, including a significant number based in Africa and the Middle East, namely Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait, Banque Al Jazira, BanqueLibano-Française, Commercial Bank of Qatar, SCC Bank, Kuwait Finance House and United Bank of Africa (UBA) Cameroon were honoured.

UBA’s Cobranded Student ID Visa Prepaid concept, ITRealms further learnt serves as an identification card for the student, with information identifying the student and indicating his or her department and university year, this reloadable prepaid card can also be used internationally and is reputed as the first prepaid programme of its kind in Francophone Africa.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Banks intensify ATM awareness campaigns

ITRealms:

The Guarantee Trust Bank otherwise known as GTBank plc alongside Zenith plc, First Bank plc, as well as the United Bank for Africa (UBA) and indeed all the major banks in the country may have stepped up their awareness campaigns as the new Automated Teller Machine (ATM) charge takes off.

The recent pronouncement by the Central Bank of Nigeria to reintroduce ATM charges from September 1, 2014, is generating debates and comments from many quarters. Some Nigerian consumers see free ATM services as the least the banks can do. Some others consider it an entitlement. Many others are asking why now?

There however seems to be a great deal of misunderstanding by members of the public on how the new ATM charges will be structured and applied. Given Nigeria's new status as the largest economy in Africa and it's increasing strategic importance as one of the most attentive emerging market, the country is rapidly becoming integrated with the global financial market and practices.

It thus makes sense to do a comparative analysis of the regime of ATM charges around the world and see how Nigeria stands in the overall financial picture. However, let us first look at the Central Bank rationale for the new policy as well as the key components.

The central bank reintroduced ATM charges two years after it stopped the N100 fee per withdrawal on third-party ATMs. The original circular to this effect was signed by the CBN Director, Banking & Payments Systems Department, Dipo Fatokun.

He noted that the banks have been bearing the real cost of N65 each time their customers use another bank's ATM.

"However as a result of the unintended consequences of the decision, which has resulted in substantial cost burden incurred by banks in defraying the cost of the service, the payment structure for card carrying customers, is hereby reviews in line with present realities.

“The reintroduction of the N65 transaction fee is to cover the remuneration of the switches, ATM monitoring and fit-notes processing by acquiring banks. The new charge shall apply from the fourth withdrawal from another bank within a one month period. So the first three charges will still be paid for by the issuing bank. All ATM cash withdrawals on the same issuing bank will still be free. Banks are expected to conduct adequate sensitization of their customers."

The Director of Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Ibrahim Mu’azu, explained in a follow up statement that the new charge would help the banks to keep more ATMs serviceable across the country, thereby making banking more convenient for customers.

Mu’azu maintained that the new charge was not intended to discourage financial inclusion, adding that the CBN would not endorse any anti-customer policy.

“Charging of fees on interbank networks is a widely acceptable global practice. The new ATM charge will ensure that customers get better services, while increasing healthy competition among the bank. The transaction volumes at other banks’ ATM had increased astronomically owing to the free cash withdrawal on other banks’ ATMs. 

"Indeed, some customers were beginning to abuse the use of ATMs through countless daily withdrawals; this development has led to an increase in cash transactions, which negate the central bank’s cash-less policy. The CBN wishes, therefore, to reassure the public that the long-term interests and welfare of all bank customers remain the goal of all banking policies.”

Let us now take a closer look at how Nigeria compares with many other countries around the world, before we end up with some great tips for bank customers.

In Brazil, banks such as Bradesco, Banco do Brasil, Caixa Econômica Federal, Itaú and Santander operate their own nationwide ATM networks. These ATMs are conveniently located all over and there are no charges. However, fees are assessed if there is excessive usage of the ATMs (i.e. one makes more withdrawals than what's allowed by their monthly maintenance fee).

In Canada, most Canadian financial institutions are members of the Interac Association, a multi-bank ATM network founded by Royal Bank of Canada, CIBC, Scotiabank, Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Desjardins Group in 1984. Before the presence of white-label ATMs, most Canadian customers were only charged the standard Interac Network Transaction Fee when a customer was using an ATM not provided by the bank that held their account (historically $0.75 CAD, now $1.50 CAD). As the Interac network was opened up to more Independent sales organizations ("ISO")s and the potential for additional revenue from Service Fees were made available, most banks elected to impose the Service Fee in addition to the revenue that was generated from the Interac fee.

In Austria, cash withdrawals are free for any owner of an Austrian Maestro card. (Very few, small banks charge an extra fee when one of their own customers uses a different bank's ATM).

German banks charge fees for withdrawals at another bank's ATM. Usual fees are 4-5 EURO. All ATMs are connected to the national Girocard interbank network. The ATM owners do usually join one of the ATM groups that mutually lower or waive fees, so that customers can withdraw free of charge. The most extensive network of ATMs belongs to the savings banks associations ("Sparkassen") with 24,600 ATMs.

The Central Bank of Ireland forbids all ATM usage fees, although the Government imposes a 5 Euro annual stamp duty on debit/ATM cards.

In Spain, there are significant variations in charges applied. A card issued by a Spanish Bank will normally expect to incurr a moderate fee from 0 to 1Euro to be applied to ATM withdrawals, where the transaction is conducted on an ATM operated and owned by the customers own bank. However outside this situation there is anecdotal evidence of significantly higher charges being applied where third party owner/operated ATMs are used.

In Sweden, most banks issue debit cards for an annual or monthly fee which includes free withdrawals in Sweden and within the eurozone. However, customers are subject to a fee if using a cash machine elsewhere. Some cards from some banks are, however, subject to fees also when used in the eurozone and some Swedish cash machines. Most of these cards are issued by savings banks.

The United Kingdom, a popular destination, used to charge ATM fees in the 1980s. The large numbers of free-to-use ATMs and the low average number of transactions at pay-to-use machines means that 97% of cash withdrawals in the UK presently remain free of charge.

Moving on to Hong Kong, there are three ATM networks there. ATM use is free of charge, except when a card is used outside of its respective home network. When a card is used outside the home network, HKD$15–30 is paid for service charge.

In Indonesia, banks generally do not charge a fee for ATM usage. However, when an ATM card is used outside the home ATM network, service charge will apply.

In Pakistan banks usually charge a fee of PKR 0 to PKR 20 per non user's ATM cash withdrawal. These fees are levied chiefly to offset banks' own costs at par only, without any profit margin whatsoever. There are two ATM switches operational in the country, 1LINK, hosted by a consortium of banks, and MNET, hosted by MCB Bank Ltd; and all Pakistani banks are members of one or the other switch as per the mandate of the State Bank of Pakistan, the country's central bank.

In the United States, prior to 1988, there was no surcharging of cardholders by ATM owners in the U.S. In 1988 Valley Bank of Nevada began surcharging "foreign cardholders" (meaning holders of ATM cards not issued by Valley Bank) for withdrawals at Valley Bank ATMs located in/near Las Vegas casinos.[22] Eventually, various regional ATM Networks, and ultimately the national networks, Plus and Cirrus, permitted ATM surcharging.

Before 1996, foreign ATM fees averaged $1.01 USD nationally. As banks and third parties realized the profit potential, they raised the fees. ATM fees now commonly reach $3.00, and can be as high as $6.00, or even higher in cash-intensive places like bars and casinos. In cases where fees are paid both to the bank (for using a "foreign" ATM) and the ATM owner (the so-called "surcharge") total withdrawal fees could potentially reach $11.

Moving to our continent, recent survey has found that South Africa has the highest ATM withdrawal fees out of a group of 27 countries which includes the likes of the United Kingdom and the United States of America (USA). An ATM transaction could sometimes cost as high as 16 Rands, about N240.60.

In line with the CBN directive, many of the banks have been educating their customers on the new charges, and helping them see, that ATM cash withdrawals are still free within the same bank network. The banks have tried to simplify the messages as much as possible in newspaper ads, website posting, radio announcements and other means.

GTBank, for example , which has one of the largest number of card holders, sent a circular to all their customers stating, "as a GTB card holder, it is free every time to withdraw in a GTB ATM. If you withdraw on another bank's ATM, it is free the first 3 times every month. Please note that for your convenience, GTB has deployed a great number of ATMs, placed strategically around the country."

As Nigerians get ready for the implementation of this policy, banking customers can take note of the following tips Tips on avoiding ATM charges.

Firstly, customers should be "ATM savvy" and be mindful that using ATMs that are outside of your own bank's network can cost you extra money. The simplest way to help avoid ATM fees is to use your own bank's ATMs whenever possible. To make it easier, research the location of your bank's ATMs or choose a bank with a wide network of ATMs

Secondly, Prepare a budget and plan for the cash you will need in advance so you can reduce the amount of ATM withdrawals you make. Budget accordingly. If you’re forced to access cash from an out-of-network ATM — say when you’re on vacation or traveling on business — take out more cash, to minimize your withdrawals.

Other cost saving ways is to make payments using a debit or credit card. There are no charges for using MasterCard or Visa and you can use your MasterCard to pay for goods and services as frequently as you desire.

Trust Nigerians, they will, soon get the full hang of the new ATM policy and strive to remain amongst the happiest people on earth! 

ITREALMS ... delivering news for ICT4D