By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Since its launch in February 2019, the EcobankPay Zone has been one of the preferred platforms for residents of Nigeria to transact their financial businesses.
Ecobank Nigeria, which came up with the initiative, has said over 100,000 merchants have been on-boarded on the EcobankPay platform with transaction value reaching N2 billion. This is coming some weeks after the platform hit N1 billion in transactions value.
EcobankPay offers customers a multi-channel payment experience that includes Mobile QR Payment at merchant stores (mCash, Masterpass and mVisa), Merchant QR is set up via Facebook Messenger as well as USSD payment for low-income phone users.
The platform is used by all businesses from small, informal micro merchants to large corporates as well as governments. It enables them to offer easy and convenient payment options to their customers in-store or online.
EcobankPay’s unique offering is such that all bank customers in Nigeria can pay with Masterpass, mVisa, and mCash with any phone by scanning the QR code or using USSD at merchant locations.
It is free to set up, as the shop owner only needs his/her QR code and phone for notifications to start receiving quick and easy payments.
Additional offerings include instant settlement of transaction with no transaction fees and it supports domestic and cross border transactions.
The EcobankPay Zone is available at various markets across the country, notably the Alaba International markets, International Trade Fair, Balogun Market, Saka Tinubu Market in Lagos; Relief market Onitsha, Ariaria Market both in South East; Kofa Ruwa and Kantin Kwari Market in Kano; Wuse and Dei-Dei Market Abuja ; Phone Village, Port Harcourt, New Benin Market in Edo State and Main Market Warri amongst several others.
Commenting on the latest achievement, which has been received with excitement, Executive Director, Commercial Banking at Ecobank Nigeria, Ms Carol Oyedeji, said she was impressed with the level of acceptance of EcobankPay service by Nigerians.
She reiterated that the digital product was introduced into the financial landscape to enhance payment and create ease and convenience of transactions.
“The performance of EcobankPay underscores the choice of Ecobank in bringing digital payment solutions for safe, reliable and convenient transactions to both customers and non- customers of the bank.
“The EcobankPay channel offers a distinct advantage of supporting the three main payment schemes, Masterpass, mVisa and mCash thereby broadening acceptability regardless of which Bank a client makes payment from. The QR Code is much cheaper than having a point of sale (PoS) terminal and credit to the merchant is instant,” she noted.
In his comment, Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Mr Patrick Akinwuntan, stated that, “We are determined to make Ecobankpay the choice for instant digital payment in Nigeria. This payment solution was introduced by Ecobank to create payment convenience for goods and services and also to support the growth of businesses especially SMEs.
Furthermore, he reiterated that “Ecobank is impressed with the significant progress made on EcobankPay transactions, as it is gradually becoming a lifestyle payment for all. The initiative is to deepen financial inclusion in the communities and specifically aid business transactions between merchants and clients by eliminating the risk of payment rejection.
“Ecobank has so far set up EcobankPay Zones in over 50 locations in different parts of the country. These are digital hubs enabling businesses within a location adopt Ecobank’s wide range of digital products for ease of payments for goods and services.
“The payment options at the zones include EcobankPay, Xpress points, Automated Teller Machines (ATMS) and Point of Sale (PoS),” he noted.
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