Technology Associates deploys an Integrated Retail Banking Solution at Housing Finance Uganda.

Housing Finance Corporation Uganda Limited (HFCU), is a household name as pioneers of mortgage lending in the country. The company is jointly owned by National Housing & Construction Corporation, a parastatal and Development Finance Company of Uganda. The corporation has for the last 30 years, financed several housing projects and helped many Ugandans own homes across the country

With the number of customers on the increase and the need to introduce efficiency and cost effective delivery of services, HFCU reviewed their retail strategy by soliciting presentations from established payments solution providers.

The Ugandan retail banking industry has undergone phenomenal changes over the past few years and every bank has adopted a self-service strategy aggressively to continue maintaining their competitive edge as well as delivering increased value to their customers. HFCU Bank wished to empower their customer to access their accounts anytime and with minimal overheads on the bank’s operations. The Bank wished to implement a turn-key solution by owning the ATMs and EFT Switch, while willing to outsource all aspects of ATM management, monitoring and EFT Switch management. Organizations that responded were consortiums led by world leading vendors in the ATM and EFT switch industry. Technology Associates Limited won the project in a very hotly contested bidding process.

Having won the assignment, Technology Associates supplied the Opus Electra EFT switch driving Wincor Nixdrof ATMs. This was the first site where the Electra EFT Switch interfaced with Bankmaster on the ISO 8583 standard, between and the Bankmaster core banking software was achieved. HFCU introduced their SwiftCash product into the Uganda market and today enjoys tremendous success with an investment that has been recognized as the most cost-effective by any bank in the country. This success broke the CR2 monopoly in the country and paved way for a number of existing dissatisfied CR2 customers to review their EFT strategy with Technology Associates and Opus. The ATMs in phase one were installed at Housing Finance branches on Kampala Road and Namuwongo. And now all HFCU customers can:

• Inquire their balances                
• Withdraw cash easily
• Get fast cash                            
• Change pin
• Get a mini-statement                 
• Transfer funds               
• Deposit cash/cheque                 
• Request for a Statement