A new era in bank-to-bank payments in South Africa began this week with the launch of the PayShap fast payment system by BankservAfrica and the banking community.
According to the service’s website, “PayShap addresses key goals recognized by the South African Reserve Bank and the Payments Association of South Africa, including financial inclusion, reduced reliance on cash, and the development of an integrated platform for high-volume, low-value digital payments.” .”
Touted as “South Africa’s first low-value real-time digital interbank payment service,” it was offered at four participating banks: Absa, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank. More banks are scheduled to go live in the coming months.
Mpho Sadiki, head of real-time payments at BankservAfrica, said it had been “widely anticipated in the market and in the global payments community since the start of its journey in 2017.”
Ravi Shunmugam, CEO of FNB EFT product house, says: “PayShap will support FNB customers in the transition from cash to digital and is the first of many customer solutions for real-time payments and payments infrastructure transformation that align with our payments modernization and digital platform strategy. “
With no waiting around, South African bank account holders can now easily pay and receive up to R3000 per transaction instantly between participating banks without having to share bank account details.
Sadiki says: “While the initial focus is on person-to-person payments, every South African, including small business owners and merchants through to commercial enterprises, can benefit from this service, which is becoming a viable alternative to cash – through the reimbursement of payments to friends or family, to pay for items in community marketplaces, at hair salons, to pay for home maintenance services, car washes, restaurants and transportation.”
PayShap is not a standalone app and is only accessed through existing banking channels.
“At launch, PayShap will be automatically accessible through banking channels such as mobile banking and internet banking. We anticipate that banks will innovate in the future and choose to enable additional digital access channels.”
PayShap will be launched in two stages.
The first section introduces the PayShap instant billing feature, which offers the option to pay by account using account details or by proxy using a unique identifier such as a mobile phone number.
The second part introduces an additional Request-to-Pay feature that allows a person to initiate a payment request and receive money securely and instantly in their bank account.
Nedbank launched PayShap with a pricing strategy designed to encourage widespread adoption. The service is free until April 30th, after which it is available for a small fee of R1.
Dayalan Govender, Managing Executive for Solution Innovation at Nedbank, said: “We are aggressively promoting PayShap because we firmly believe it is an innovation with tremendous potential to help more South Africans enter the digital economy. By enabling individuals and small businesses to affordably make instant payments from their mobile phones, PayShap offers the security of digital transactions with the immediacy of cash.”
* For more information, visit the PayShap website at www.payshap.co.za.
