Cellulant, UBA to expand payments in 19 African countries
Cellulant and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc have announced a partnership that will extend payment services for merchants and consumers across 19 key African countries where UBA operates.
The countries are Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Republic of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Guinea, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Senegal.
This network represents one of the primary tools in bringing together Africa’s fragmented payments ecosystem, ensuring Cellulant’s payment gateway, Tingg, is available to a vast number of merchants and consumers in each of these markets.
Already, over $15 billion in gross value payments are processed by Cellulant across the shared markets – and this partnership has the scope to expand the numbers significantly.
“We are delighted to welcome the United Bank for Africa as a new banking partner,” said Group CEO at Cellulant, Akshay Grover.”
He said as the payments landscape in Africa continues to evolve, “We believe that fintech 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.
“The 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.”
Speaking on the partnership, Group Deputy Managing Director, UBA, Oliver Alawuba, said: “We are happy to welcome Cellulant to Nigeria for this MoU signing and most importantly into UBA’s expansive landscape. UBA is ready; we are indeed set to dominate the entire digital banking space in Africa.
“Our 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.”
During the signing ceremony at the UBA House in Lagos, Alawuba noted that “Collaborating 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 the latest in a line of new partnerships forCellulant, as it continues to expand its network. Tingg is now available via 120 banks, is a one-stop payment gateway for multinational corporations, mid-caps and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) alike.
