The American businessman Alan Gator Charmberlain who has had running battles with ABSA over money transfer mishap wants the bank to apologies.

In December last year, Chamberlain wired money from USAA bank account to his ABSA but the bank claimed the transfer was effected because he had used a wrong Swift Code.

However, after he complained and his lawyer wrote to the bank, the money was later reflected on the ABSA account.  The American businessman also had provide evidence indicating that three previous money transfers using the same Swift code were successfully effected and the funds were dispersed.

He now wants the bank to apologise ” for the hurdles i went through”. 

Robinah Mukasa, the Head of Communication and Citizenship at Absa Bank Uganda told Eagle Online in January that Chamberlain used foul language in a meeting and broke a door which endangered the employees and customers.

Chamberlain agreed to using “foul language” but insisted it was the Bank’s “deceit and dishonesty” which prompted. “Had ABSA been honest and forthright with its handling of the situation they could have harmonized instead of antagonizing,” 

After the scuffle, Chamberlain was briefly arrested by police and his lawyer’s car impounded by the police.

Chamberlain wants the government to be stricter and regulate cases of fraud in the banking sector.  

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Innovation Village and Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA)  have launched a program to support existing insurance players, startups and other organizations using technology to build and increase access to insurance solutions dubbed “IRA InsureX”.

 IRA InsureX aims to provide Business Development Services and Technical Assistance to these innovators to help them fast-track identifying opportunities, building solutions, getting solutions into the Authority’s Regulatory Sandbox, and supporting these solutions not only to navigate being in the Sandbox but also prepare to scale on graduating it, altogether working towards doubling insurance penetration by 2025. 

Speaking at the launch Sande Protazio, the Director Planning, Research and Market Development at Insurance Regulatory Authority said the program was borne out of the urgent need to grow insurance penetration, unlocking the many benefits it has for households and enterprises, and therefore for the economy at large and these become more resilient, and how technology can accelerate increasing this access.

Protazio said, “Our Innovation Action Plan of 2019 was developed on the need to extensively catalyze the use of innovation within the insurance industry. This involved creating a provision for a flexible application of regulatory tools to encourage new and existing industry players to innovate, test and scale their innovative solutions to better serve their customers through digital channels.”

He added that the InsureX program is a crucial aspect of IRA digitalization agenda that is designed to bring together InsurTech innovators to use a shared digital infrastructure to build solutions faster, build a critical mass of technology-aware insurance professionals, create market access opportunities for insurance solutions, and encourage collaboration around a connected insurance ecosystem towards doubling penetration by 2025.

“The program brings to life our Regulatory Sandbox by ensuring we not only have a steady number of high-quality solutions applying to join but that such solutions where accepted, have the fundamentals in place and opportunity to rapidly scale while in and upon graduating the sandbox. As a regulator, we are committed to supporting innovators to get market validation of their ideas as we collaborate to develop the appropriate regulatory approach to enable them to succeed for the benefit of the industry” Protazio said. 

The IRA InsureX program is designed to support insurance innovators to test entirely new or refine existing approaches to how insurance is packaged, bought and sold, and what value consumers get out of it by leveraging emerging opportunities in the sector such as micro-insurance, telematics, algorithmic risk assessment, self-service and more.

According to Arthur Mukembo, Future Lab StudioLead at the Innovation Village, the sandbox will provide a safe space for entrepreneurs to innovate, build and test market-driven insurance innovations under a flexible regulatory regime.

Mukembo said, “The IRA InsureX program is an opportunity for existing licensed players and insurance solutions wanting to digitalize, and innovators building technology solutions that want to embed insurance solutions to get support building, testing, refining and scaling these solutions through a structured journey in collaboration with the regulator through their Sandbox mechanism.”

 “The Sandbox at its core is a safe space where innovators can test their innovations in the market around an agreed set of principles with the regulator while receiving support from the regulator and Innovation Village to refine the innovations and approach to market access in preparation for scale,” he added.

The IRA InsureX Program is designed to unlock various opportunities for insurance sector innovators by increasing adoption, unlocking new revenue streams and optimizing routes-to-market and costs to acquire and serve customers while shortening time-to-market, among others.

Participants will access developer tools to reduce the time and cost of testing solutions, get support preparing compliant applications to the Regulatory Sandbox, get expert advice on developing, refining and implementing Product and Go to Market Strategy, and sharpen innovation acumen and capabilities to support building and scaling solutions, among others.

 Whereas Uganda’s insurance sector continues to experience strong growth evidenced by the increase in the Gross Written Premium (GWP) over the years from sh240b in 2010 to sh1.2 trillion in 2021, there continues to be a need for sector players to embrace innovation and adopt technology to increase market adoption of insurance solutions, creating opportunities to grow market share. 

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Pesapal Uganda and Airtel Mobile Commerce Uganda Limited (AMCUL) have signed a partnership that will enable acceptance of Airtel Money mobile payments at the Pesapal Sabi point-of-sale (POS) machines.

Since its inception in 2009, Pesapal continues to innovate digital payment solutions to accommodate the changing times and the demands of its customers as reiterated by Emmy Rono, Country Manager Uganda.

She reassured that: “We are committed to innovating and offering a secure payment environment while complying with the highest safety standards. In all we do, we think of the customer first. We think, convenience, efficiency, and security. Our business partners in retail, hospitality and other sectors, and individual customers will enjoy varied payment options that suit their needs without any limitations.”

This partnership will enable Pesapal’s point-of-sale machine (Sabi POS) merchants to accept Airtel Money payments in addition to Visa and Mastercard. Mobile money has been touted as a revolutionary tool for expanding access to financial services in low-resource environments.

“At Airtel Money, we remain committed to continuous innovation to drive financial inclusion and uptake of digital financial services in general. In ensuring the delivery of our mandate from time to time, we implore strategic partnerships to further ensure that the customer benefits across all varying aspects. We are therefore proud of this partnership with PesaPal and equally look forward to a positive impact across our respective customers,” says Mr. Japhet Aritho, MD Airtel Mobile Commerce Uganda Limited.

Mobile money has rapidly gained prominence with Africa now accounting for 70% of the world’s $ 1 trillion mobile money value. According to a report by GSMA, the value of Africa’s mobile money transactions edged up 39% to $701.4 billion in 2021 from $495 billion in 2020, highlighting the future of African banking is mobile.

“Collaboration is very critical in the financial sector. We are glad to be working with Airtel Money as we transform our payments space and contribute to financial inclusion. With this, we will offer an improved customer value proposition where customers are able to make convenient mobile money transactions anytime and anywhere,” Rono said.

Pesapal Uganda operates across the entire country offering both online and in-store payment options. Currently, the Sabi POS machines are distributed across retail sectors – hotels and restaurants, supermarkets, fuel stations and tour operators to accelerate payment acceptance. Pesapal is committed to providing an integrated and advanced payment experience, ensuring it offers solutions that meet its customers’ day-to-day needs.

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