Tsys announced that Ecobank, a pan-African banking group, has deployed the latest version of the Prime payments solution platform, Prime 4. This is to support its acquirer processing of MasterCard, Visa and UnionPay International point of sale transactions across 28 countries in Middle Africa.
Ecobank has a major presence in Africa with more than 1,100 branches servicing over 10 million customers in 34 countries, making it one of the largest providers of financial products and services on the continent. With a mission to advance Africa’s economic and financial integration, Ecobank sought a proven acquiring solution to further improve its merchant services.
Eric Coffie, Group Head, Cards and Electronic Banking at Ecobank, said “We were seeking a robust solution to support our multi-country acquiring operations across the African continent and Prime 4’s support for hosting multiple institutions on a single platform, along with its support for multiple international and domestic payment schemes, made it the clear choice.”
Prime is a web-based, flexible and scalable solution optimised for extensive interoperability and highly parameterised, with built-in support for multiple languages and currencies, to enable versatility in meeting diverse banking requirements. It offers an integrated solution across the entire payments value chain, from issuing to acquiring, as well as the regulatory, compliance and value-added services crucial to those managing merchant portfolios.
“We are delighted that Ecobank chose Prime to provide it with a future-proof platform to further expand its acquiring business. We have had an African presence dating back to 1995, so we are also pleased to take this opportunity to re-affirm our commitment to the continent and its future development,” said Rene Kruse, Chief Operating Officer, Prime Business Solutions, Tsys International.
Prime has an extensive issuer and acquirer footprint throughout Africa, Europe, CIS, the Middle East and Asia. Its footprint extends across more than 100 financial institutions in more than 70 countries.
Founded in 1985, The Ecobank Group is a full-service bank focused on Middle Africa. Headquartered in Lome, Togo, it provides wholesale, retail, investment and transactional banking services to governments, financial institutions, multinationals, local companies, SMEs and individuals.
It currently operates in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Group also has a licensed operation in Paris and representative offices in Beijing, Dubai, Johannesburg, London and Luanda.
Ecobank operates across network of 1,251 branches, over 2,100 ATMs, and 10,000 POS machines servicing 10 million customers. With 18,698 employees as at end of May 2015, the Group is the largest employer of labour in the financial sector industry in Middle Africa.
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