United bank for Africa Plc, Nigeria's largest bank and Africa's emerging
global bank, has added another laurel to its kitty. At a ceremony in
Lagos yesterday, UBA was named the bank with the 'Best e-banking
footprint and presence in Nigeria' on account of the large spread and
usage of its e-banking products and services by the banking public.

The award was bestowed on the bank by Intermac Consulting Limited,
during the launch of the 2007 Nigeria e-banking  Customer Survey report
in Lagos Thursday November 22, 2007.  The report was a consumer research
initiative of the consultancy firm to provide critical market analysis,
competition intelligence and customer feedback on cards, ATMs and POS
terminals, internet banking and telephone banking in Nigeria.

 
UBA came up as  leader in the following areas; 

*          bank most often used for e-banking services  
*          best performing bank on e-banking,  measured on a relationship
index 
*          highest consumer awareness on e-banking 
*          highest proportion of usage 

UBA today has the biggest and fastest growing card and electronic
payments infrastructure in Nigeria, with over 5 million cards and 800
ATMs.  The bank has consistently been a pioneering bank in electronic
card payment systems through the introduction of new and innovative
products and solutions which target the needs of our customers across a
broad range of market segments.

UBA, in line with global trends and best practices has seen a huge
growth in transaction volumes both in Naira spend and the number of
active cardholders. Although the bulk of the spend is at ATM's which is
not uncommon in a market that is new to card payments, there has been a
gradual shift in transactional habits away from the ATM and to
transactions at Merchants (shops and other retail outlets).

This shift is being supported by a rollout of POS terminals to the
Merchants across the country, just as they are being made aware of the
benefits of accepting cards over cash and cheques. In support of this,
UBA is rewarding customers for the increased use of electronic payments
via its Lion Pride Loyalty program and has developed a number ofmarketing campaigns designed to boost patronage.