Monrovia – The United Bank for Africa (UBA) has launched its mobile banking system, which is geared toward reducing the over crowdedness and many challenges confronting its customers.
Report by Augustine T. Tweh, [email protected]
The launching ceremony took place Monday, April 4, at the Murex Plaza Hotel in Monrovia.
Speaking, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of UBA-Liberia, Olalekan Balogun, said digital banking brings a lot of efficiency and convenience for customers’ services.
“Before now, UBA was the only bank that was offering both the Visa and the Liberia Dollar Visa Card. I see some mobile computation now looking in that direction because we believe that with digital banking, it brings a lot of efficiency and convenience,” he said.
Balogun said the issue of overcrowded banking halls poses serious challenge and loss of productivity to customers as well as the banking institution but can only be solved with the help of digital banking system in the country.
UBA Liberia Managing Director added that gone are those days when customers had to stand in long queue or abandoned their busy schedules to deposit cash or pay school fees but with the help of the application (mobile banking) customers can access their financial information and do their business transactions via their mobile phones.
“I find it strange when I see crowded banking halls; that’s loss of productivity. This can be solved by digital banking. So it’s something that we are driving seriously in Liberia. In the last two months, we have done quite a lot; we launched the AMEU Card so that students can pay online directly and tomorrow again we are launching the Cuttington University whereby students will pay online.”
He continued: “Gone are those days where you have to be in queue or cut short your holiday any where you are to rush back to pay your school fees. About a year now, we signed another digital product with the government of Liberia whereby you can obtain your passport and pay all your taxes and levied charges online, that platform is also running for the Government of Liberia.”
The UBA CEO noted that digitalizing banking system in Liberia is the primary objective of his institution (UBA), something he said will boost the economy, create efficiency and provide safe comfort for subscribers. He also added that the initiative is part of his institution’s support to the pro-poor agenda.
For his part, the head of Digital Banking at UBA, Prince Chesson, said UBA Liberia is the only bank that is offering the local currency visa credit card and a visa pre-pay card services that you don’t need to open an account to obtain.
“Another exciting thing is that you can log on and load your visa and you can also take money from your visa pre-pay card to your account,” he said.
Chesson added that with the product, subscriber stands to benefit fast banking service, secure saving and accounts, reduce transportation cost, easy financial transactions and avoid standing in queue for hours to do business transactions, among others.