South Africa in beginning the roll out of Payshap, a low value, interbank, real-time digital payments service aimed at increasing financial inclusion to the underbanked segment.
Stemming from country's Rapid Payments Programme, the now commercially-branded PayShap is an industry-led initiative that supports the South African Reserve Bank’s payment system plan.
Payshap's initial rollout this month will offer users access to instant, real-time payments across participating banks as well as the use of an alias that will enable payments to be made through the use of a unique identifier other than a bank account number - in this case, a cellphone number.
The initial phase of PayShap will see the participation of the first cohort of banks: Absa, First National Bank, Standard Bank and Nedbank. More banks and non-banks are set to follow.
A second stage will follow, introducing a request-to-pay function which makes it possible for a person to request payment and receive money securely and immediately in their bank account.
To learn more about payments innovation, register for NextGen Nordics to take place on 25 April 2023.