African integrated payments and digital commerce company, Interswitch has said that it has partnered with Equity Bank, one of the top banking groups in East Africa, to provide the bank’s customers with faster and more affordable banking services at over 650 Interswitch-enabled Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) belonging to 17 local banks in Uganda.
Interswitch said the arrangement showed the company’s operations in Nigeria and Kenya as it would also enable Equity Bank’s ATM machines to accept bank cards of other local participating banks and institutions on the Interswitch network.
“Equity Bank also becomes an acquirer for Verve cards, adding to its wide portfolio of cards accepted by all Point-of-Sale machine locations and ATMs countrywide. There are approximately 250,000 Verve card holders in Uganda”, Interswitch said.
Announcing the partnership at a press launch in Kampala,Uganda on Wednesday, the Country General Manager for Interswitch Uganda, Peter Kawumi noted that the partnership was ideal and timely.
He said that, for the past 20 years, Interswitch had provided technology solutions to businesses in Africa, to allow them to provide their customers with accessible, seamless, and affordable banking services.
According to him, “this partnership demonstrates an interesting shift in the attainment of service quality and competitive advantage. By joining the Interswitch network, Equity Bank will now benefit from the entire ecosystem that includes all the other financial institutions and their consumers in Uganda and across the region. In this way, Equity Bank has achieved two key things”.
On the partnership, the Founder/Group Managing Director, Interswitch Group, Mitchell Elegbe said: “Once more, we reiterate our commitment to making payment more accessible, convenient and affordable for Africans.
“Our partnership with Equity Bank enhances the interoperability efforts of the Ugandan financial industry and banking sector. The restriction across inter-bank payment channels in Uganda is further reduced. This partnership reiterates our capacity to support the expansion plans of our partners in Nigeria and other countries, into other regions”.
