East African Bank Integrates REGIDESO Utility Payments with WSO2
API Management
Overview
A leading East African bank, known for its digital-first strategy, partnered with REGIDESO—the national electricity and water utility provider in Central Africa—to transform utility bill payments for millions of customers. The bank aimed to provide a seamless, real-time, and integrated payment experience that would eliminate manual processes, reduce service delays, and improve customer satisfaction.
To realize this vision, the bank partnered with Tellestia to design and implement a robust integration layer using WSO2 Micro Integrator. The result: a real-time utility payment ecosystem that connects REGIDESO’s back-end systems with the bank’s digital channels, enabling faster settlements, instant confirmations, and a significantly improved end-user experience.
The Challenge

Business Challenges
REGIDESO’s legacy systems could no longer keep pace with the growing demand and expectations from its diverse customer base. Key challenges included:
- Lack of Instant Payment Confirmation:
Customers using mobile and online banking channels had no real-time confirmation for electricity and water bill payments. This caused confusion, especially among prepaid electricity users, who often experienced disconnection even after paying. - Fragmented Billing Systems:
REGIDESO operated separate billing environments for electricity and water. This complexity made it difficult for the bank to streamline payment journeys or consolidate reconciliation reports. - Delayed Reconciliation:
The bank’s reconciliation with REGIDESO was entirely manual and could take several days—adding operational overhead and delaying financial settlement. - Unstructured Data Exchange:
REGIDESO used a mix of CSV, XML, and flat file formats, requiring the bank to manually transform and normalize data before processing or reporting. - No Real-Time Integration Layer:
Payment files were exchanged using overnight batches with no real-time APIs. This restricted service visibility and created customer service challenges.
Technical Challenges
- Lack of Middleware at the Utility End:
REGIDESO did not have an existing integration layer, meaning the bank had to absorb the complexity of enabling real-time processing. - Data Format Inconsistencies:
Handling multi-format messages from REGIDESO added complexity to data transformation and validation logic on the bank’s side. - Scalability Concerns:
Peak-period loads—especially around billing due dates—strained the systems, causing performance degradation.
The Objective
The bank set out to deliver:

- A real-time utility payment infrastructure that works across digital and branch channels.
- Secure and scalable APIs for seamless integration with REGIDESO’s systems.
- Faster reconciliation and reduced back-office load, enabling operational efficiency.
- Improved customer trust, with instant transaction status visibility and fewer disputes.
The Solution
Tellestia worked closely with the bank’s technology and operations teams to architect and implement a modern API-driven integration solution using WSO2 Micro Integrator (MI). The solution acted as the intermediary between the bank’s digital services and REGIDESO’s billing systems.

Key Solution Highlights:
- Central Integration Layer
WSO2 MI served as the core engine to mediate, orchestrate, and transform data between the bank and REGIDESO. - API Gateway for Real-time Services
A set of secure, well-defined APIs were built to handle:- Utility bill inquiry (electricity and water)
- Instant payment confirmation
- Payment status lookups
- Settlement and reversal notifications
- Multi-Format Message Transformation
REGIDESO’s various formats (CSV, XML, JSON) were normalized to a canonical data model—simplifying downstream processing and reconciliation. - Hybrid Channel Support
- Push APIs for real-time interactions via online banking, mobile apps, and agent networks.
- SFTP integration for batch-based offline channels and overnight settlement reports.
- Real-Time Monitoring Dashboards
Custom dashboards enabled operations teams to track transaction success rates, system performance, and reconciliation status in real time. - Built-In Resilience & Compliance
The solution included robust logging, retry mechanisms, and audit trails—ensuring traceability and regulatory alignment.
The Impact
The implementation delivered significant value to the bank, its customers, and REGIDESO.
Metric | Before Implementation | After WSO2 Integration |
Payment Processing Time | 24–72 hours (manual updates) | Real-time (within seconds) via secure APIs |
Customer Payment Visibility | Delayed; no confirmation at point of payment | Instant visibility for customers and call center staff |
Reconciliation Cycle | Manual; error-prone; delays of several days | Automated, near real-time reconciliation |
Data Consistency | Multiple formats, prone to mismatches | Canonical data model enabled standardized processing |
Bank–REGIDESO Integration | File-based; offline confirmation | Real-time API and batch support across all channels |
Peak Load Performance | Limited scalability; frequent slowdowns | Scalable platform with high availability |
Operational Effort | High manual workload for operations and reconciliation | Reduced by 35–40% with automation |
Audit & Traceability | Fragmented logs, no unified visibility | Full audit trails, retry logic, and system monitoring |
Additional Outcomes:
- Enhanced Customer Experience: Customers received instant confirmations, reducing service disruptions and increasing trust in the bank’s digital channels.
- Improved Liquidity Management: REGIDESO gained real-time insight into incoming payments, improving financial control and planning.
- Regulatory Readiness: The bank could confidently meet compliance needs with centralized logging and audit-ready integration flows.
- Scalable for Future Growth: The solution laid the foundation for onboarding additional utility partners, adding services, and expanding to other regional markets.

Let’s Get Started on Your Transformation Journey.
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