SA: South Africa readies for real-time low value payments

South Africa’s top four banks are to begin the roll out of Payshap, a low value, interbank, real-time digital payments service aimed at increasing financial inclusion to the underbanked segement.

Developed by BankServAfrica, PayShap will initially be offered by Absa, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank in early 2023, before being rolled out industry-wide in the months to follow.

“Making a low value (under R3000) payment to an account at any other bank should be quick, easy and affordable,” says Mpho Sadiki, head of real-time payments at BankservAfrica. “While most banked South Africans will enjoy the convenience of this service, we believe it is the underbanked, cash dominant market that will benefit the most.”

The PayShap service will be released to the market in two stages, he says. The first will see the launch of the instant clearing feature which includes the ability to either pay-by-account (using account details) or pay-by-proxy (using a unique identifier such as a cellphone number). The second stage, will introduce an additional request-to-pay function which makes it possible for a person to request payment and receive money securely and immediately in their bank account.

Consumers will be able to access PayShap through their banks’ selected banking channels such as internet banking, banking apps or their bank’s USSD.