E-commerce giant, Konga, has recorded another feat with the roll-out of cardless withdrawal and unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) features on its payment platform, KongaPay.

KongaPay is a secure payment platform licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It is imbued with features that allow customers to hold funds in escrow, complete peer to peer transfers, purchase digital goods, pay for Digital Satellite Television (DStv) subscription and airtime at discounted rates.

Explaining how the card-less withdrawal feature works, KongaPay Vice President, Joshua Fatoye, stated that the feature allows any account holder to withdraw cash from any Automated Teller Machine (ATM) nationwide, without using any debit card.

Fatoye said: “The card-less feature works this way: All the customers are required to do is to sign up on Kongapay.com and ensure that their KongaPay wallet is funded using any of the funding options. Then, the account holders need to log into their wallets via web or app. Then, click on cash out from the wallet, and next on card-less cash out feature and input the amount and the beneficiary mobile number.

‘‘By default, the customer’s mobile number will be on display. The customers can, however, input any valid mobile number of any recipient they wish to send money to. The beauty of the process is that the mobile number does not have to be registered on KongaPay wallet.

“Next, the customers will then input their personal identification numbers (PINs) and One True Pairings (OTPs) to complete the transaction. Next, the customer who initiates the transaction will receive a message thus: “Your pay code request was successful’, and the beneficiary will get a short message service (SMS) notification with the withdrawal code details.”

On how the recipient could process the cash at the ATM, Fatoye said: “The recipient should go to any ATM, tap on any of the keys on the keypad to get the screen active and select card-less withdrawal/pay code cash out, depending on the bank’s ATM. Next, s/he is expected to input the 8 to 14-digit withdrawal code, earlier sent via SMS, and input the cash out PIN (sent via SMS). Lastly, the customer will then input the amount (in multiples of one thousands) and wait to collect the cash.”

On the USSD feature, Fatoye said KongaPay launched the USSD channel as an alternative to the web and mobile channels. Further, he disclosed that the USSD channel will boost financial inclusion for millions of unreached and under-served Nigerians.

“This,” he said, “means that users who do not have access to smart devices or live in areas where there is no data coverage, can still carry out their financial services on the go by dialing the KongaPay USSD code, which is *574#.”

Meanwhile, Fatoye explained that KongaPay has the best competitive pricing in the fintech industry, even as he revealed that the platform offers discount to customers who patronise it.

His words: “On KongaPay, we offer very competitive pricing to our customers. For instance, on KongaPay, customers can transfer funds to any bank account in Nigeria at a price much lower than the industry pricing. We also offer our customers discounts when purchasing airtime. We even go as far as absorbing the convenience fee costs and also offer a discount to our customers when they pay bills on KongaPay.

‘‘What this implies is that our customers do not need to pay the convenience fee, while paying for DSTV subscription. Also, they not need to pay the full amount for the subscription as KongaPay will offer them a further discount.”

Equally important, the KongaPay Vice-President added that customers can do a lot with their KongaPay wallet, including peer to peer transfers (transfers to a KongaPay wallet as well as any bank account in Nigeria) as well as airtime purchase at discounted prices.

“Account holders can pay for their DSTv subscription as well as other bills on the platform without a convenience fee and still enjoy a discount on their payments. Customers can also use their wallets as a payment tool online on e-commerce platforms like Konga.com, Konga Travel as well as at physical stores. With KongaPay, there are no limits to access to financial services. Now customers can have their wallet in hand and enjoy the comfort of banking with their phone,” he said.

To register for the platform, customers are expected to download KongaPay app on Google Play Store or sign up on www.kongapay.com to create an account.

To fund KongaPay wallet, customers need to link their bank card to top-up or transfer from an internet banking app to KongaPay account. Customers can also fund their KongaPay account at any KongaPay designated agent nationwide or through a KongaPay wallet transfer from a third party.

Update news