United Bank for Africa (UBA) Ghana is leading the way not just by talking but with the implementation of electronic banking products and services in the country.
According to the bank, branchless banking which is relatively new to Ghana holds the key to unlocking the banking industry in the country.
Speaking at the third UBA CEO’s breakfast forum in Accra last week, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of UBA Ghana, Oliver Alawuba, said the future of banking in Ghana will be branchless.
The bank had already commenced the operation of a branchless banking model at the Accra Mall, christened the Accra Mall E- Village.
“This is the only purely cashless service outlet in Ghana that provides numerous services such as bill payments and liquidation of funds transfer on cards,” he noted.
The UBA chief noted that “Branchless Banking offers many value propositions for both the banked and the un-banked in society among which is financial inclusion, convenience and security.”
UBA has introduced a number of e-banking services, including the cardless ATM withdrawal service which allows a third party to withdraw cash on its ATM without a card.
The breakthrough innovation in the banking sector was part of three ATM Value Added Services which the bank rolled out to provide convenience for the bank’s customers, Alawuba added.
Speaking on the topic “Branchless Banking: A Tool For Financial Sector Transformation”, the Head of Product Sales-UBA, Abu Yahaya, noted that banks are expected to collaborate with one another to create a robust platform for logging and resolving customer complaints with clear penalties to defaulting banks, adding that banks should aggressively expand their service outlets (agents) to increase acceptance and utilization especially among the rural population.
He also encouraged banks to set aside a certain percentage of their profits to be channelled into Research and Development (R&D) that will see the introduction of innovative products and services to meet their customers’ needs
“Banks must seriously consider Branchless Banking as a model to rapidly expand their reach and attract new customers (under-banked and un-banked),” he noted.
He called on the government to implements deliberate policies that will enforce the usage of electronic products like the payment of pension benefits on cards and mobile phones.
According to him, government should create the enabling environment to attract businesses with high capacity and the requisite financial resources to provide a robust infrastructure (connectivity) to drive electronic transactions, as well as grant some tax incentives for the importation of equipment used for branchless banking roll out and operations
Comments