Standard Bank has acquired a majority stake in Firepay, the company that develops popular mobile payments platform SnapScan. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Firepay launched SnapScan in partnership with Standard Bank in 2014. The SnapScan app allows users to pay for goods and services using only their mobile phone. Today, the company has 32 000 physical and online merchants.
The market has, however, become crowded since then, with rivals such as Zapper rolling out aggressively across South Africa.
SnapScan will continue operations as normal, with the Firepay team staying on board to grow the product, Standard Bank said in a statement.
Customers and merchants with any South African bank will still be able to pay with or receive payment via the app, the bank emphasised.
In addition to SnapScan, the Firepay team’s technology platform already enables payments for several clients, including WeChat and Masterpass. The company will continue to develop and expand its offering to provide a range of product development and payments services, Standard Bank said.
Firepay CEO Kobus Ehlers said in the statement: “Our team is looking forward to building out our payments platform to solve the real-world payments problems we have always focused on, and to provide customers with the best experience possible. We’re excited to work with Standard Bank in our mission to achieve this both in South Africa and across the continent.” — © 2016 NewsCentral Media
