The Agent Banking Company (ABC) was established in 2017 by Uganda Banker’s Association (UBA) the umbrella organization for commercial banks in Uganda and Eclectics a pan-African technology company.

Similar to the Mobile Money model, Agent Banking empowers commercial banks to appoint agents to provide banking services such as deposits, withdrawals and more on their behalf. Agents can be the local shopkeeper, kiosk owners, supermarket attendant or anyone in your community who has been authorized by your bank.

The financial services currently offered through the ABC platform include cash deposits, cash withdrawals, bill payments and money transfers.

The platform enables commercial banks to enhance customer experience, reduce the cost to serve and increase coverage while avoiding duplication of investment and effort.

As at the end of 2021, there were 22 commercial banks with 20,108 agents enrolled on the platform. Between 2018 and 2021, agents on the platform cumulatively processed over 12 million transactions worth $ 4.3 billion.

As the next step in its evolution, ABC will expand its distribution network to include shared and interoperable Mobile Banking, Mobile Wallet, and Merchant Channels, these channels will be the core channels through which ABC will scale its business by enabling consumers to access the full suite of financial services from multiple financial services providers beyond cash in and cash out (CICO) services.

Additional services to be provided through these channels will include local and international remittances, merchant payments, micro-lending, micro-savings, micro-insurance, micro-investment, and pension services.

In addition, ABC will expand its addressable market to include non-bank financial services providers such as Micro Deposit-taking Institutions (MDIs), Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs), Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs), Insurance Companies, Investment Firms, and Pension Firms.