E-Financial
UBA Assures of Innovative Services to Boost Trade, Financial Inclusion in Africa
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Pan African financial Institution, has assured its customers that it is dedicated to facilitating intra African trade and financial inclusion, by providing premium services, through consistent innovation and relentless investment in technology.
This bank said is targeted towards spurring financial inclusion on the continent.
Chiugo Ndubisi, Bank’s group executive, Transformation and Resources, made this disclosure on Thursday, during the Africa Day Celebration, at the ongoing 2019 Lagos International Trade Fair.
Speaking at the event which had the theme ‘Boosting Intra Africa Trade: Institutions, Finance and Technology,’ Ndubisi said: “As Africa’s global bank, we understand the importance of intra-African trade. Therefore, we have put services in place to support this. With Africash, our intra-African money transfer services, customers can easily move money around for trade and investment within the continent.
He continued: “More importantly, financial institutions like the UBA have taken up the Financial Inclusion challenge, using different digital channels to expand access to financial services.
Explaining UBA’s role in service delivery to its customers, he said, “In our quest to make every UBA branch a home branch to our customers, regardless of the African country they come from, we introduced UBAConnect, a service that has effectively supported trade in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) region. We have recorded massive success in this regard.”
Ndubisi added that UBA customers in the CEMAC region – Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, the Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea – can enjoy instant access to their accounts in the bank’s branches anywhere within the region, explaining that these services are in line with the bank’s belief that greater access to financial services can contribute to increase in the productivity of businesses, especially Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) – engines of economic growth on the continent.
“At UBA, we are excited about the possibilities the future holds for intra-African trade, with the required number of countries ratifying the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA). The agreement will create a single African market of more than a billion consumers with a total GDP of over $3 trillion. UBA is well positioned to support individuals and businesses when AfCFTA comes into force,” he noted.
On his part, Ruwase while addressing the participants and business owners said the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is a welcome development, adding that almost all African nations have shown interest in the agreement.
Ruwase said, “We believe the pact will further boost trade in a continent with a population of 1.2 billion and market size of about U$2.5 trillion, as it allows members to specialize in their areas of comparative advantage.”
“However, it is important to note that AfCFTA may not work out as planned if members fail to reform their business environment, diversify their exports base, fix their infrastructural problems, address regulatory challenges as well as institutional constraints, and map out strategies to improve their economic competitiveness, he noted.
A high point of the event was the visit to UBA branch by Ndubisi, were a first- hand experience of UBA’s self- printing debit card machine was carried out. While at the branch it was a bee-hive of activity as tonnes of customers gathered in their numbers to enjoy the unique service recently introduced by the bank.
The new self-printing debit card machine allows for seamless business transactions with great value to customers and businesses. The Product is Self Service Mobile Kiosk designed to give customers control of the following Banking transactions as they can initiate and complete the following requests/transactions with little or no interaction with Bank staff.
Self-service debit card printing allows customers to obtain personalised debit cards at their convenience with faster Turn Around Time. (TAT). This hands control over to the customers to enjoy this service at any time of the day. It also allows customers to block their existing cards in case of theft or misplacement.
A cardinal goal of instant card issuance is the reduction of the time expended in furnishing the customer a debit/credit card. The self-service solution takes this further by ceding the responsibility of the CSO to the customer who initiates the process and follows it through till a card is produced.
The following services is also available on Self Service Kiosk; Statement Printing, Card hot listing, Account Opening/Customer onboarding, Funds Transfer, Airtime recharge, Bills Payments and so much more.
Debt Management Office (DMO) said the federal government spent N3.14 trillion on servicing its domestic debt in the first quarter of 2026.
The office disclosed the data in its latest domestic debt service report for Q1 2026.
The figure comprises N2.97 trillion in interest payments and N169.68 billion in principal repayments.
The agency said in January, the government spent N741.82 billion on domestic debt service, while the figure rose to N967.67 billion in February.
Debt service increased further to N1.43 trillion in March, bringing the total for the quarter to N3.14 trillion.
The March figure was 47.7 percent higher than the N967.67 billion recorded in February and 92.7 percent above the N741.82 billion spent in January.
Also, the debt office said interest payments accounted for about 94.6 percent of total domestic debt service during the quarter.
The DMO said treasury bills accounted for the largest share of interest payments at N1 trillion, while interest on federal government bonds stood at N1.96 trillion.
The agency said the government also paid N4.24 billion in interest on FGN savings bonds during the period.
The DMO said the principal component of the debt service comprised N169.68 billion in repayments on local-denominated promissory notes.
Overall, the government’s domestic debt service rose sharply through the quarter, with March accounting for almost half of the N3.14 trillion spent between January and March.
Nigeria’s public debt increased by 0.01 percent to N159.35 trillion in the Q1 of 2026.
Interswitch Group, an integrated digital payments and commerce company, together with global banking software provider, Temenos have reassured the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of their commitment to advancing the modernisation of Nigeria’s financial services sector.
Interswitch and Temenos had earlier in June announced a strategic partnership across Africa which would see Interswitch leverage Temenos solutions – across core banking, digital banking, payments, wealth management and financial crime mitigation – to provide cloud-hosted and on-premises managed services to banks and financial institutions across Africa.
This will enable institutions to progressively transform their banking platform and evolve to more customer-centric business models. The service will initially support key African markets including Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and others.
The recent regulatory visit to CBN headquarters in Abuja, was led by the Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Interswitch, Mitchell Elegbe, and Managing Director for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) at Temenos, Santhosh Rao, as part of the ongoing efforts by both organisations to deepen collaboration with Central Banks across the African region on the future of digital banking infrastructure across Nigeria and key African markets.
Discussions centred on the strategic partnership between Interswitch and Temenos, and how it will enable Nigerian financial institutions to progressively modernise their core banking platforms and transition to more customer-centric business models.
The two organisations also explored opportunities to work with the CBN in charting new frontiers in Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) innovation, leveraging resilient financial networks and decentralised application platforms to support the issuance and management of CBDCs.
Commenting on the visit, Elegbesaid: “Our partnership as Interswitch with Temenos and our continued engagement with the Central Bank of Nigeria reflect a shared commitment to building banking infrastructure that is resilient, inclusive, and ready for the next phase of Africa’s financial evolution.
We are proud to be at the table as these conversations shape the future of digital banking technology and innovation across key Africa markets…”
The Bank of Industry, through BOI Financing SPV Plc, has opened subscriptions for its inaugural Series 1 Fixed Rate Bond worth up to N250bn under its $1bn multi-currency instruments programme, seeking to raise long-term capital to finance businesses across Nigeria’s priority sectors.
The offer, which opened on 5 August and closes on 11 August, is being arranged by Chapel Hill Denham as the lead issuing house. The five-year bond is priced within a yield range of 17.35 per cent to 17.50 per cent and will be listed on the FMDQ Securities Exchange.
According to the offer document, proceeds from the issuance will be deployed to finance eligible businesses and projects across sectors, including agriculture and food processing, healthcare, engineering and technology, renewable energy, petrochemicals, oil and gas, creative industries and solid minerals, in line with BOI’s development finance mandate.
The lender said the financing is expected to improve access to medium and long-term funding for Nigerian enterprises, expand productive capacity, create and preserve jobs, deepen local value addition, support import substitution, boost exports and strengthen domestic value chains.
BOI, Nigeria’s foremost development finance institution, said it has provided funding to more than one million businesses across the country and disbursed over N1.27tn between 2023 and 2025. The institution operates across 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory and is jointly owned by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The bank also highlighted its financial performance, reporting a 36 per cent compound annual growth rate in gross earnings between 2021 and 2025.
Interest income rose 64 per cent to N884bn in 2025 from N538bn in the previous year, while its capital adequacy ratio stood at 39 per cent, nearly four times the regulatory minimum of 10 per cent. Its non-performing loan ratio was 1.7 per cent, below the CBN’s prudential limit of five per cent.
The bond has been assigned AAA ratings by Agusto & Co. and Intelligence Africa, reflecting the issuer’s strong capitalization, profitability, liquidity and ownership structure.
The issuance is open to institutional and qualified investors with a minimum subscription of N5m and additional investments in multiples of N1m. Interest will be paid semi-annually at a fixed rate, while principal repayment will begin in the third year through equal semi-annual amortised instalments until maturity in 2031.
The bond is also exempt from tax, making it an attractive investment option for investors seeking stable returns amid expectations of declining interest rates.
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