Software as a service is becoming a prominent venture especially as a business solution to the enterprises in the region. A lot of local vendors have vast experience and an understanding of the local market which qualifies them to partner with developers of software solutions from overseas, for instance, India. I am not biased about India being the incubator of most of the awesome software around but clearly as a country it hosts serious coders you can ever think of. Hold that thought for a second because Universal Payment Services (UPS) is a company from the Middle East and as a leading transaction service provider of payment card services, today they have just partnered with Kenyan banks. 

The advancement of technology and the internet being a breeding ground for electronic mode of payment, banks will now have the choice to choose the Visa or MasterCard International banking cards which are accepted globally, plus a host of other card solutions, thanks to UPS. In Kenya, it is only Paynet that has successfully completed EMV (Chip) Acquiring certification for its outsource Visa customer banks who acquire ATM transactions and for its group owned ATM network, PesaPoint.

Ray Vincent, UPS East Africa Regional Representative said: “UPS will ensure that banks are able to deliver more value to their customers by facilitating cost efficient transactions and delivering payments through a single gateway using certified technology with all major card schemes. Ultimately, this will lead to revenue growth due to improved efficiency and reduced operating costs,”

It would be too early to say we have a clog of software solutions streamlined towards the banking and financial institutions because it’s the uniqueness of each solution backed by different developers that matters. For instance, UPS, which invests in card management systems with the mandated certification from both Visa and MasterCard currently provides its services to Prime bank, Chase bank and First Community bank in Kenya and is targeting more financial institutions due to the exponential growth and potential of the card business in Kenya. With the company basing its core services on processing, personalization, outsourcing and support, Kenyan bankers have something to smile about.