UBA Relaunches U-Gold Hybrid Savings Account

Customers of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, now have the privilege  of opening and operating a savings account that gives them many of the privileges usually reserved for only holders of a current account.

This and other benefits were unveiled by the bank during the relaunch of its “U-Gold” savings account at an impressive ceremony in the coal city of Enugu. The ‘U-Gold’ is a hybrid account reserved for customers who want to have a low cost savings account but desire the convenience offered by a current account like the ability to issue cheques for third party withdrawals.

With U-Gold, account holders can issue cheques to other people to withdraw money directly from their accounts.  Cheques on the U-Gold account are however not eligible for clearing purposes. It is primarily to make it easier for the account holder to carry out banking transactions without having to visit the bank always.

A customer can open a U-Gold savings account with a minimum of N5,000.00 only, and enter into a world of high value banking services withAfrica’s global bank. Holders of this account also stand to benefit from the bank’s range of cost saving e-banking products and services like internet banking, a personalized debit card among others.

Olumide Osunyomi, Head, Retail Products, UBA Plc, said the U-Gold Savings Account is a new product that replaces UBA Gold and UBA Gold Plus Savings Accounts.  “U-Gold Savings Account allows third party withdrawal through non-clearing cheques while other types of savings account do not allow third party withdrawal. This means holders of the bank’s U-Gold account can issue cheques on their account to other people to withdraw cash just like a current holder can issue cheques. The only difference is that the person issued the cheque, must personally visit the bank to make the withdrawal over the counter, unlike a current account, where the person can pay the cheque into his own account” She explained.

U-Gold however comes with significant benefits for account holders, according to Osunyomi. Some of the benefits include the fact that there will be no limit on number of withdrawals from the account, zero COT on cash withdrawals and interbank transfers, the ability of account holders to lodge cheques and dividend warrants in their U-Gold account, the ability to carry out internet and mobile banking, debit card issuance, SMS and e-mail alerts.  Even more, holders of the UBA’s U-Gold account will also earn interest on their account balance at normal savings rate.

Osunyomi notes that opening a U-Gold account is as easy as opening any savings account with UBA with minimal documentation requirement. She called on small business owners and individuals to quickly go to any of UBA’s over 700 business offices across Africa to open a U-Gold account.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) has operations in 19 African countries including Nigeria, as well as offices in New York, London and Parisproviding broad-based banking services to over seven (7) million customers.  The Group offers a bouquet of banking services and products designed to meet the specific banking needs of its diverse multi-cultural and multi-lingual customer base in three uniquely different continents.