PayShap, the rapid payments platform endorsed by the South African Reserve Bank, has been launched, with four banks – Nedbank, Absa, Standard Bank and FNB – supporting it from day one.
South Africans can now instantly send money to one another using only a cellphone number. Five years in development, and led by BankservAfrica, the real-time digital payments platform currently restricts the value of payments to R3 000.
More banks are expected to join the initiative in the coming months. They include Investec, Capitec and TymeBank.
Last year, TechCentral conducted a detailed interview with BankservAfrica CEO Jan Pilbauer about PayShap, in which he unpacked everything you need to know about the platform and how it works – you can watch that interview here, or lower down in this article.
Using PayShap, South African bank account holders can now make payments and receive money instantly, between participating banks, without sharing bank account details.
The focus at launch is on person-to-person payments, but every South African, including small business owners and merchants to commercial businesses, stands to benefit.
PayShap, which is being billed as an alternative to cash, is not a standalone app and is accessed through existing banking channels only. It is anticipated that banks will “innovate and opt to enable additional digital access channels” in time.
PayShap will be released to the market in two phases. The first leg, launched on Monday, will see the launch of the PayShap instant clearing feature that gives the option to pay by account (using account details) or pay by proxy (using a unique identifier such as a cellphone number (ShapID).
The second leg will introduce an additional request-to-pay function that will make it possible for a person to initiate a request for payment and receive money securely and immediately in their bank account. – © 2023 NewsCentral Media
