Absa Bank has introduced a cardless withdrawal capability at their Automated Teller Machines (ATM) which allows customers to withdraw cash with their smartphones.

The new product offering allows customers to confirm transactions without the need to use their electronic cards, a move that is likely to further ease cases of fraudulent ATM transactions.

“Digital payments are evolving at a fast pace, particularly during this Covid-19 era where public health is a primary concern,” Musa Jallow, retail director at Absa Bank said during the launch of the product.

The changes being introduced by commercial banks are strongly related to consumers changing tastes and preferences as well as engagement with different transactions channels.

Emerging technologies have been a major contributor to the transformation of both consumers’ behaviour and banks’ new product offering.  

The usage of mobile money, electronic cards, internet banking have been key in facilitating easiness and convenience during the pandemic. By end of June this year, commercial banks had shut down a total of 14 branches, according to the Bank of Uganda as they moved to leverage on new technologies.

“Absa is responding to the needs of customers who are looking for convenience and security, as well as solutions that enable them to conduct their banking with as minimal physical interactions as possible,” Jallow said.

Data from the Bank of Uganda shows that the value of payments made using debit cards increased from sh670.3b in 2019 to approximately sh3.2 trillion in 2020.

The exponential growth is partly attributed to actions taken by players in the financial sector including the promotion of the usage of cashless transactions as a measure to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission to customers and the public.