UBA's e-payment portal to boost e-commerce in Africa

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U-bills is a collection and bill payments platform that allows sellers to collect payments online or on their mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. 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 the devices.

"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," says Divisional Head, e-Banking, Yinka Adedeji.

Flexibility

With U-bills, customers have the flexibility to make online payments anytime of the day or night or week to sellers for goods bought or services rendered.

"This means, it no longer matters where you are in the world. As long 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 having to move an inch," he added.

Registered customers can recharge their mobile phones, pay their cable TV bills and pay their utility bills in any of the 19 countries in Africa where UBA has operations.

Already, some registered merchants include 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.

Payment options

The platform accepts VISA and MasterCard as well as the local card schemes and other payment platforms in the different countries where UBA has its operations.

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. The platform has no monthly or annual charges. All charges are based on transactions and are country-specific.

Payments are safe and secure and protected by the best in class IT security features that is line with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards for card payments.

Source: The Guardian via AllAfrica