South Africa introduces new bank payment system this year
Customers will no longer need a bank account number or branch code to transfer money
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is working on a new Rapid Payments Programme (RPP) that is set to change South Africa's payments system significantly. BusinessTech writes about this.
The programme, outlined in the central bank's 2022 annual report, is part of SARB's Vision 2025 plan as an initiative to modernise payments.
"This RPP, when fully implemented, will offer a cost-effective instant bank-to-bank payment service, a proxy service for entering user bank details, a payment request service, and support for several known retail payment options," the Reserve Bank said in a statement.
"The payments industry, led by the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA) and BankServ Africa, has developed a legal construct, namely the formation of a payment clearing house and the creation of an RPP scheme," it further stated.
SARB noted that BankServ Africa is working with several member banks to develop a technology solution, which is the backbone of the RPP solution. It is currently in the testing phase and its implementation is scheduled for the second half of 2022.
Speaking to TechCentral, BankservAfrica CEO Jan Pilbauer said that with the introduction of the new system, customers won't need a bank account number or branch code to transfer money.
Instead, they will be able to use a mobile phone number - or any other identifiable information - to make a payment to another person. He added that the system should allow users to transfer money through instant messaging apps, including meta-services such as WhatsApp.
Photo: IStock
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