Pride Bank signs deal to let customers bank at local shops

Customers of Uganda’s Pride Bank will be able to deposit and withdraw cash at local shops under a new partnership with payments company Interswitch.

The deal, launched in the capital, Kampala, on Wednesday, gives the lender’s customers access to more than 21,000 Quickteller agents across the country, according to the two companies.

Customers will also be able to repay loans and pay bills through the agents, who are typically shopkeepers paid a commission on each transaction.

Pride Bank is also issuing Verve debit cards, which the companies say can be used at more than 650 ATMs and over 20,000 merchant locations on the Interswitch network.

The bank’s managing director, Veronica Namagembe, said the aim was to reach traders, farmers and people who travel for work.

“We believe banking should fit into the lives of our customers rather than requiring our customers to organise their lives around banking,” she said.

Joseph Fetaa, the bank’s head of business, said many customers could not afford to leave their shops or farms for long to visit a branch.

“Banking therefore cannot be something that interrupts their day,” he said.

Moris Seguya, who heads Interswitch in Uganda, said the partnership would connect Pride Bank customers to the company’s full network from the start.

“Banking should not depend on how close you live to a branch,” he said.

Mr Seguya said Interswitch had distributed more than 700,000 of its Verve cards.

Neither company said how much customers would be charged for using agents or withdrawing cash with the cards.

Pride Bank says it was granted Tier II status by the Bank of Uganda in November last year.

Interswitch, which was founded in Nigeria in 2002, provides electronic payment services in several African countries.