*United Bank for Africa welcomes Cellulant to Nigeria for a partnership, as the bank discloses its readiness to ‘dominate the entire digital banking space in Africa’

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

In a move to deepen financial inclusion in Africa’s payments ecosystem, Cellulant and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc have announced a partnership that will extend payment services to merchants and consumers across 19 key countries where the commercial bank operates on the continent.

绿帽献妻 learnt partnership agreement signing ceremony took place at the UBA House, in Lagos.

The countries are Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, C么te d鈥橧voire, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Republic of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Guinea, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Senegal.

The payments network, report said, represents one of the primary tools in bringing together Africa鈥檚 fragmented payments ecosystem by ensuring Cellulant鈥檚 payment gateway, Tingg, is available to several merchants and consumers of financial products and services in each of these markets.

Already, over $15 billion in gross value payments are processed by Cellulant across the shared markets, and this recent partnership promises to raise the numbers significantly, report said.

Akshay Grover, Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Cellulant, said: 鈥淲e are delighted to welcome the United Bank for Africa as a new banking partner.”

Grover also noted as the payments landscape on the African continent continues to evolve, 鈥渨e believe that FinTech (Financial Technology) and banks need to have a deeper collaboration in expanding opportunities that will help ease payments and collections for businesses and their consumers across all sectors of the economy.”

He further stated: 鈥淭he partnership with UBA extends our unparalleled reach across the continent and gives merchants and consumers in our shared network the opportunity to enjoy streamlined digital payments services directly through their bank.鈥�

In his remarks on the partnership with Cellulant, Oliver Alawuba, Group Deputy Managing Director of UBA, said: 鈥淲e are happy to welcome Cellulant to Nigeria for this MoU signing and most importantly into UBA鈥檚 expansive landscape.

“UBA is ready; we are indeed set to dominate the entire digital banking space in Africa.”

Alawuba stated: 鈥淥ur bank, as you know, is one of the largest financial services institutions in Africa, providing services to over 25 million customers in 23 countries 20 of which are on the African continent.

“This speaks to our strength and capability in terms of delivering innovative digital solutions to the last mile.鈥�

The UBA Group Deputy Managing Director at the signing ceremony in Lagos, further said 鈥渃ollaborating with Cellulant will allow for maximum impact when it comes to changing lives and introducing smarter ways for people to make payments in Africa.”

The announcement is said to be the latest in a number of new partnerships for Cellulant.

Tingg, available via 120 banks, is a one-stop payment gateway for multinational corporations, mid-caps, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).