Digital banking provider, Layer has sealed a partnership deal with the United bank for Africa (UBA) to rapidly revolutionize digital banking and ultimately, expand banking experience across Nigeria.
The partnership, according to Layer is aimed at providing greater access to a wider range of financial services for customers of the United Bank for Africa in Nigeria.
“Through this collaboration with Layer, the financial conglomerate will be able to provide seamless banking services in different jurisdictions from one central platform without altering core banking systems,” said Roy Zakka, Founder and CEO of Layer.
He added that the partnership will position UBA as a digital-first leader across Africa while also helping reduce their annual spend by more than 40percent for mobile applications alone.
Layer’s proprietary platform enables banks to offer their customers a blend of traditional and neobank capabilities through one single platform that sits on top of core banking systems and connects through open source technology (API’s). UBA has implemented all of the capabilities available on the Layer platform, to provide end-to-end digitalisation of their banking services, delivered through a new mobile app and website across 18 markets in 4 different languages.
Also commenting on the partnership, UBA Group MD Mr. Kennedy Uzok said: “We conducted a very thorough digital banking vendor/platform evaluation process across the global market considering the advancement in technology, the richness of features, ownership cost-effectiveness and smooth implementation approach.”
With the smartphone revolution gathering pace in Sub-Saharan Africa, the digital banking sector on the continent is primed to boom. While only 4 in 10 people in Nigeria have access to smartphones at present, sales are accelerating with Africa expected to account for 7.1% of the total smartphone marketplace by 2023. As a result, mobile transactions in Nigeria surged by 82.6% in 2020 to stand at 1.69 billion compared to 928.86 million recorded in the previous year, according to the 2020 instant payment annual statistics, recently released by the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS). The report also revealed that 78% of total instant payments carried out in Nigeria in 2020 were done through the use of mobile devices.
However, Nigeria is only beginning its journey to reinvent the payment experience with figures from McKinsey showing a growing demand for digital banking services. According to the report, 46% of bank customers expect to use digital or mobile services more in the post-pandemic world. To help meet this demand Layer is assisting UBA to position itself to revolutionise the way it does business across Nigeria and the African continent by becoming the go-to bank that ensures a seamless experience for staff and customers.