E-Financial
UBA Partners with Cellulant to Expand its Reach in 19 Markets across Africa
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Africa’s global bank, and Cellulant (Cellulant.io), leading Pan-African Payments Company, have announced a partnership that will extend payment services for merchants and consumers across 19 key African countries in which UBA operates.
Officials of both firms at the signing ceremony recently
These countries include 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 US$15bn 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 Akshay Grover, group CEO at Cellulant. “As the payments landscape in Africa continues to evolve, we believe that FinTech’s and banks need to have a deeper collaboration in expanding opportunities that will help ease payments & 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.”
Alawuba,
Speaking on the partnership, Oliver Alawuba, group deputy managing director, United Bank for Africa, 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”.
He continued, “As the needs of our customers change, we are consistently adapting innovative solutions and partnerships to provide them with excellent and convenient services. With our strategic partnerships, we can accelerate the drive for financial inclusion and economic wellbeing of Africans on the continent. As a customer focused bank we are dedicated to ensuring first rate customer service to all our customers as well as fashion out the best possible ways to ease the way they transact”.
Alawuba during the signing ceremony at the UBA House in Lagos, 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 for Cellulant, as it continues to expand its network with leading financial institutions like UBA. The company’s payments platform, Tingg, now available via 120 banks, is a one-stop payment gateway for multinational corporations, mid-caps and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) alike.
‘Our partnership with UBA is an opportunity to further simplify the payment experience for businesses looking to collect payments online or offline. This is particularly impactful for businesses who face daily administrative challenges because of the industry’s fragmentation.” said David Waithaka, chief revenue officer at Cellulant.
The platform enables merchants to receive, view, and reconcile all their payments via a single application programming interface (API), cutting out the need to sign up for multiple payment providers, including mobile money and mobile money operators (MoMos).
This simultaneously streamlines businesses’ administration processes while expanding the range of payment options they can offer to consumers, ensuring maximum choice and flexibility both offline and online.
“By offering a one-stop-shop payments platform through UBA across the 19 countries it is present in Africa, we are opening up the possibility for merchants to seamlessly accept payments from a huge range of payment methods (banks, mobile money and cards), whilst managing all their back-office processes in one place. Local, regional and global businesses can now focus on growth and expansion across Africa.”
E-Financial
First Securities Brokers Empowers Nigerians to Trade in the Stock Market with the Launch of FirstInvest App
First Securities Brokers, one of Nigeria’s leading stockbroking firms and a subsidiary of FirstHoldCo Plc, is pleased to announce the official launch of the FirstInvest App, an innovative mobile investment platform designed to make stock market investing simpler, faster, and more accessible for Nigerians.
The FirstInvest App offers investors a seamless digital experience, enabling them to open and manage their investment accounts, monitor their portfolios, and trade equities listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) directly from their mobile devices.
Designed with both new and experienced investors in mind, the platform combines convenience, security, and ease of use to help users make informed investment decisions anytime and anywhere.
As Nigeria continues to embrace digital financial services, the FirstInvest App reinforces First Securities Brokers’ commitment to driving financial inclusion and expanding access to wealth creation opportunities through technology.
Speaking on the launch, Fiona Ahmed Ahimie, Managing Director of First Securities Brokers, said: “The launch of the FirstInvest App represents another significant milestone in our digital transformation journey and our commitment to delivering innovative investment solutions to our clients.
“We understand that today’s investors value convenience, speed, and accessibility. FirstInvest has been developed to provide exactly that: a secure and intuitive platform that empowers individuals to participate confidently in the capital market from wherever they are.”
She added: “Our goal is to remove the traditional barriers associated with investing by placing the power of timely investment and decision making in the stock market directly in the hands of Nigerians. Whether you are taking your first investment step, actively managing your portfolio or just evaluating your investment, FirstInvest provides the tools and flexibility needed to support your financial aspirations.”
The app delivers a range of features designed to enhance your investing experience, including: Secure digital account opening and onboarding, Real-time access to investment portfolios, Buy and sell Nigerian equities with ease, User-friendly trading interface, Secure transaction processing, Convenient access to market information and investment opportunities.
The launch of FirstInvest aligns with First Securities Brokers’ broader strategy of leveraging technology to improve customer experience while supporting the growth of retail participation in Nigeria’s capital market.
First Securities Brokers remains committed to providing trusted investment advisory services, innovative financial solutions, and exceptional customer service, helping clients build and preserve wealth across generations. The FirstInvest App is now available for download on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
The next currency crisis could accelerate the shift of the roughly $315 billion global stablecoin market into a digital-dollar alternative for citizens in emerging economies, notably in regions like sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
As local fiat currencies face devaluation and high inflation, citizens and businesses are increasingly utilizing smartphone-based stablecoins (such as USDT and USDC) as hedges and primary mediums of exchange.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the rapid adoption of dollar-linked digital assets—particularly in countries heavily affected by inflation like Nigeria—poses significant risks to monetary sovereignty.
With up to 95% of surveyed individuals in some African markets preferring to receive payments in stablecoins over local fiat, the rising volume of these decentralized, cross-border channels weakens domestic currency demand and dilutes the effectiveness of local monetary policy.
IMF observed in a report titled “Stablecoins in Nigeria: A Growing Cross-Border Channel” noted that the widespread use of stablecoins poses risks to monetary sovereignty, particularly as more individuals and businesses turn to digital dollar-linked assets for savings and transactions.
Nodding in agreement is Future Investment Initiative Institute (FII Institute), a non-profit organisation run by the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign wealth fund.
FII Institute said that central banks face structural challenges.
And according to the institute, when citizens move savings out of national banks and into private digital wallets, conventional capital controls lose their grip.
Institutions like the Bank for International Settlements warn that interest-bearing stablecoins compete directly with domestic-currency deposits, complicating financial oversight and making smartphone-based transfers incredibly difficult for authorities to monitor.
In Nigeria, Naira depreciation has pushed users toward dollar-stablecoins, according to report by Gino Matos in cryptoslate.com.
A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a steady value by pegging its price to a reserve asset, such as a fiat currency (e.g., the U.S. dollar) or a commodity (e.g., gold).
They act as a bridge between traditional money and the digital asset world, providing the speed of crypto without the extreme price swings of assets like Bitcoin.
Federal government has reopened three federal government of Nigeria (FGN) bond issues valued at N1.2 trillion for subscription as part of efforts to raise long-term funds from the domestic debt market.
The Debt Management Office (DMO), which announced the offer on Tuesday, said the three reopened bond issues are each valued at N400 billion.
According to the DMO, the first offer is the January 2035 FGN Bond, a 10-year reopening, carrying an interest rate of 22.60 per cent per annum.
The second is the May 2028 FGN Bond, a 15-year reopening, with a coupon rate of 15.45 per cent per annum, while the third is the June 2037 FGN Bond, a 20-year reopening, also valued at N400 billion.
The office said the bond auction is scheduled for July 20, while successful subscriptions will be settled on July 22.
It explained that the bonds are offered at N1,000 per unit, with a minimum subscription of N50 million and additional investments in multiples of N1,000.
For the reopened bonds, the DMO said successful bidders would pay a price based on the yield-to-maturity that clears the auction, in addition to any accrued interest on the instruments.
Interest on the bonds will be paid every six months, while the principal will be repaid in full on the respective maturity dates.
The DMO reaffirmed that FGN bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the Federal Government and constitute obligations chargeable on the general assets of the federation.
It added that the bonds qualify as trustee investment securities under the Trustee Investment Act and enjoy tax exemptions for eligible investors, including pension funds, under the Company Income Tax Act and Personal Income Tax Act.
The bonds are listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and FMDQ Securities Exchange and also qualify as liquid assets for banks in computing their liquidity ratios.
FGN bonds are long-term debt instruments through which investors lend money to the Federal Government in exchange for periodic interest payments and repayment of the principal at maturity.
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