UBA Cameroon bags”Prepaid Card Innovation of the Year” award

UBA Cameroon has become the first bank in Africa to win the 2015 “Prepaid Card Innovation of the Year” award given at the annual Cards International Summit, organized by VISA Inc in Dubai.

UBA Cameroon won the 2015 edition of the award ahead of other banks from Africa in an event attended by the cream of the banking sector across Africa and Europe.

Receiving the award on behalf of UBA Cameroon, Head of e-banking sales, Gides Tsimene said, “We are delighted to receive this recognition of our passion, commitment and dedication to offering first-rate services and marketing of prepaid cards to our long list of customers.”

Explaining why the bank deserved to win the award, Tsimene said UBA Cameroon has in the last two years boosted its e-banking sales strategy by building strong partnerships with Universities and Micro-Finance Institutions to understand and anticipate the needs of mass consumers for electronic banking products. He said that the bank has successfully formulated a strategy around prepaid cards to facilitate access for customers and the public generally. 

Also speaking at the awards ceremony, Mr. Oloyede Abimbola, Head of Co-Branded Projects in the  UBA Group, expressed joy at winning the 2015 ”Prepaid Card Innovation of the Year” award, by VISA Inc.

He disclosed that UBA Cameroon’s great strides in promoting prepaid card usage in Cameroon was the reason for winning the award.

 “Three major Universities in Cameroon including, Douala, Yaoundé 1 and Yaoundé 2 are benefiting from our co-branded card scheme with about 150,000 prepaid cards soon to be in circulation. We have also reached advanced stage to enroll more universities this year into the scheme” Abimbola said.

Ms Abimbola, however, said that Universities are not the only ones benefitting UBA Prepaid Card innovation scheme disclosing that the bank has also been working with more than 20 micro-finance institutions on issuing co-branded Visa prepaid card schemes for their customers.

She said that UBA Cameroon’s vision is to become the leading financial services provider in the area of electronic products in Cameroon.

Speaking on the award, Kennedy Uzoka, Deputy Managing Director of the UBA Group and CEO of UBA Africa expressed his delight at UBA Cameroon winning the award.

“It shows that our Africa strategy is gaining momentum and our years of investments are yielding the right returns and helping to drive financial inclusion on the continent” he said.

UBA Cameroon is one of the 18 African subsidiaries of the UBA Group outside Nigeria.

United Bank for Africa Plc is one of Africa's leading financial institutions offering banking services to more than 8 million customers across 605 branches in 19 African countries. With presence in New York, London and Paris, UBA connects people and businesses across Africa through retail, commercial and corporate banking, innovative cross border payments, trade finance and ancillary services.