UBA and Partners Finalize Cross-Platform Payment Agreement
Strategic Payment Interoperability Partnership Unveiled
A significant development in the financial technology sector has been announced by United Bank for Africa (UBA), MoMo PSB, and Redtech. These three entities have formed a strategic payment interoperability partnership aimed at breaking down long-standing barriers between bank-led merchant acceptance and telco-led mobile money wallets. The initiative is set to begin in Nigeria with plans for a Pan-African expansion.
The collaboration integrates MoMo PSB’s extensive wallet ecosystem with UBA’s wide-reaching merchant-acquiring network through Redtech’s RedPay infrastructure. This integration enables MoMo customers to make payments at over 55,000 UBA merchant locations and perform branch-level transactions such as deposits and withdrawals.
At the signing ceremony held in Lagos, Alero Ladipo, Group Head of Brands, Marketing and Corporate Communications at UBA, emphasized the broader vision of the alliance. She stated, “Every institution in this room is a giant in its own right. What makes today meaningful is the decision to come together anyway.” She further highlighted that financial inclusion is not just a slogan for UBA but a commitment requiring scale, technology, and the willingness to build ecosystems rather than silos. This partnership, she added, is a concrete manifestation of that commitment.
Kayode Olubiyi, UBA’s Head of Digital Banking, spoke about how the integration addresses critical friction points for both consumers and business owners. He explained, “What this partnership represents is an honest and effective answer to the gap we identified in cash transactions and card access.” By introducing the ‘Pay with MoMo’ feature into the UBA network, merchants gain direct access to MoMo PSB’s customer base, while MoMo PSB customers have more places to use their wallets. This, he said, is a clear win for both parties.
For MoMo PSB, the fintech subsidiary of MTN Nigeria, this deal marks a significant step toward achieving “true interoperability.” Omolara Michael-Nwadu, Acting CEO of MoMo PSB, stressed the importance of removing platform-specific barriers to drive usage at scale. She said, “We are building a more connected financial ecosystem where payments aren’t tied to platforms but to a seamless customer experience.” Integrating MoMo wallets into UBA’s merchant network through Redtech’s infrastructure unlocks access to over 55,000 touchpoints, bringing useful financial services closer to where people live and work.
Emmanuel Ojo, CEO of Redtech, a technology firm backed by Heirs Holdings that powers the integration, noted that the project aligns with the principles of Africapitalism. He stated, “This partnership is about making payments work more seamlessly for everyday commerce. Our goal is to build the payment infrastructure that ensures a merchant never has to turn away any customer in Nigeria or across Africa because of their preferred payment method.”
The “Pay with MoMo” feature is already active across RedPay POS terminals, which have processed over N278.47bn in transactions to date. Following the Nigerian rollout, the partners plan to extend the service to other African markets where both UBA and MoMo PSB operate, signaling a new era of cross-border payment fluidity on the continent.
