Unified Payments Services Limited (also known as Unified Payments), Nigeria’s premier fintech service provider, has targeted 99.9 per cent payment terminal service delivery, as the country’s second Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA) licence holder.
Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through a public bid process in its publication of Friday, January 5, 2024, called on different operators to bid and compete for the PTSA licence. Following a rigorous and transparent process, the CBN awarded the second PTSA license to Unified Payments Services Limited.
The managing director and CEO of Unified Payments, Mr. Agada Apochi, at a media parley, over the weekend, in Lagos, discussed the future prospects of the new licence obtained by the company, while assuring seamless, simple and effective ecosystem, free from financial crimes and other market misconduct.
Apochi disclosed that since obtaining the PTSA licence, Unified Payments has rolled out plans, adding that different operators have connected to its PTSA platform, for the purpose of ensuring seamless and secured transactions. “As a PTSA licence holder, we are improving national infrastructure. Our approach to the market is not that of competition. We do not see ourself as competitor, but as an enabler. Our PTSA platform is for everyone to collaborate, co-habit and grow payment services in Nigeria,” he revealed.
Speaking on the role of Unified Payments as a PTSA, the CEO said, “Our role is that of an enabler, to help different industry operators and service providers offer their services and solutions in compliance with policy and regulatory frameworks as defined by CBN. We as PTSA will help the government, through the CBN, to have an oversight over transactions that happened at the Point of Sales (POS) and through that, we will be able to help members of the public to manage different misconducts.”
He highlighted the inability to have full oversight over transactions, as a major challenge in the e-payment industry. Explaining further, Apochi said, “When transactions don’t go through, it was difficult to follow such transactions. For instance, you withdraw money from an agent or you made a purchase at a marchant. You have been debited but the money has not dropped in the seller’s account. It was difficult to say that the transactions must have gone through a PTSA. As a business offering services to the public or as a member of the public that use such services, there is no certainty that when transactions go wrong, you can be certain where the money is.
“With this licence however, all online transactions have to go through PTSA, making it easier to follow the money and that means there will be greater level of confidence on e-payment industry, not just by members of the public that are users, but for businesses that offer the service, regulators and law enforcement agencies. When there is a verifiable footprint of transactions at POS, then it becomes possible to trace fraudsters.”
On how quickly an issue can be resolved, the CEO said there are industry standards, adding that the commitment from Unified Payments, as a platform that enable businesses to do transactions at POS devices, is that, there will be 99.9 per cent service availability. “If the service is available and transactions don’t fail, then we will not be discussing reversal of fund. For reversal of fund to happen, it means there is first, a service failure, which we are tackling with this new license,” he posited.
With only two PTSA license holders in Nigeria, Apochi assured that payment services will be more effective, while seeking collaboration from all stakeholders in the industry. “There are only two PTSA license holders in Nigeria and since obtaining the license, we have been talking with the other aggregator, to define areas of collaboration, so that we work together and build a bigger ecosystem that is safer, more resilient and meet the needs and aspirations of different businesses that will be using our platforms.”