By Joy Baba-Yesufu
Wema Bank has launched a payment gateway platform known as ALATPay, designed to provide a secure end-to-end shopping experience for customers and instant settlement for merchants and small businesses.
The platform offers a fully integrated system for business owners to display products and services, accept payments across diverse channels, and receive settlements in local or foreign currency.
ALATPay eliminates the need for a third party, simplifying the payment process while maintaining transaction security. The platform offers instant settlement on transactions, unlimited transactions with no hidden charges, and dedicated support for users.
The launch event, highlighted ALATPay’s unique features, including online storefronts for each business, a unique link for each business, and the ability to collect payments in foreign currency.
Speaking at the launch, Oluwole Ajimisinmi, executive director, Wema Bank, Lagos Directorate, highlighted the bank’s drive for empowering businesses and providing viable solutions for them to thrive and scale.
“The bulk of the economy comprises small businesses so creating and providing solutions that will empower them to thrive, maintain optimal productivity and actively contribute to the economy, is the goal for us.
“ALATPay is the future, and we are proud to do yet another major one in the financial services industry, positioning Nigerian businesses to seamlessly acquire transactions worldwide. With ALATPay, customers are not just getting access to the payment gateway, they are getting a full SME Toolkit, training, exposure, loan and trading facilities, all in one. This is our way of further empowering Nigerian businesses for success.”
Damola Bolodeku, Wema Bank’s divisional head of payment business, said the lender’s value-added service is its ability to collect payments in foreign currency.
According to Bolodeku, if a customer from the United States, for example, picked items from a business’ storefront and paid with their USD Card, ALATPay allows the business to receive the payment directly in their USD Account in dollars.
“This is arguably a ‘first of its kind’ offering as most payment gateways only provide settlements in Naira. Once your business is on ALATPay, you’re able to start selling seamlessly, securely and internationally. The integration process on ALATPay is quite seamless and to maintain maximum security for both merchants and customers, we have fortified the platform with anti-fraud and money laundering tools to ensure that no bad players can access the platform.
