Nedbank now allows merchants to accept payments directly on their phones using tap-to-pay technology. In effect, this allows business owners to convert their mobile phones into payment acceptance devices.

The tap-on-phone feature builds on Nedbank’s PocketPOS payment solution, the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

Ciko Thomas, group managing executive at Nedbank Retail and Business Banking, said tap on phone uses the same strong security as physical payment terminals and meets Mastercard and Visa requirements.

“The security is further enhanced by the fact that customers do not have to hand over their physical bank cards to a merchant when paying,” Thomas said.

Businesses don’t have to invest in costly hardware such as a point-of-sale device or fixed data or telephone lines before they can start trading, he added. All they need is an Android 7.0 or higher device that’s NFC enabled.

“This makes the functionality especially valuable for SMMEs and informal traders that could not previously accept debit and credit card payments,” Thomas said.

Pilot phase

Tap on phone is the result of collaboration between Nedbank, Mastercard, Synthesis and iVeri.

The tap-on-phone functionality is in pilot phase and has been provided to a selection of Nedbank merchants, including individual and business clients.

This number will be increased during the second half of the year, after which the technology will be made available to all Nedbank clients and third-party application developers. — (c) 2020 NewsCentral Media