PayShap Expands Through Fintech and Retail Partnerships to Drive Real-Time Payments in South Africa
These partnerships aim to broaden access to the service and accelerate its adoption.
Signalling South Africa’s evolving payments landscape, the PayShap community is expanding through collaborative efforts between participating banks and new partners—such as fintechs, mobile network operators, and retailers. These partnerships aim to broaden access to the service and accelerate its adoption.
“Since its inception, PayShap’s success has reflected a shared commitment to innovation and industry-wide collaboration. In a shifting payments landscape, we remain focused on progress – building on the momentum with 12 participating banks onboard and forging new partnerships to expand access to PayShap and bring real-time digital payments to more South Africans.”
– Israel Skosana, Chief Product and Scheme Officer, BankservAfrica
Recently, South African payments platform, Ozow, announced its inclusion of PayShap Request, a revolutionary alternative way to make ecommerce payments, which is expected to bring enhanced efficiencies to its merchant base by enabling a convenient and simple way to initiate and receive payment in real-time.
“We are excited to see how fintechs are leveraging PayShap Request, this aligns to our broader participation strategy”
– Israel Skosana, Chief Product and Scheme Officer, BankservAfrica
Launched in the market by BankservAfrica in December 2024, PayShap Request, an extended PayShap service, allows the Payee to initiate real-time, interbank payment requests. When these are approved by the Payer, the amount reflects in the Payee’s account instantly. This empowers South Africans from individuals to small business owners, merchants and corporates to own the way they pay and get paid, in seconds. Merchants can simply send a PayShap Request using the Payer’s bank account details or ShapID. When approved by the shopper, payment is cleared in real time.
To date, the participant banks offering PayShap Request are African Bank, Capitec, Discovery, FNB, Investec, Nedbank, Standard Bank, and TymeBank – with other Participants set to introduce this capability later this year. The PayShap Request service is expected to become more widely available across participant bank customer segments, unlocking extended use cases as it matures.
“In line with the regulatory shifts, we welcome the opportunity to forge new partnerships with licensed participants to unlock more opportunities for real-time payments access and financial inclusion, in support of South Africa’s growing digital economy.”
– Israel Skosana, Chief Product and Scheme Officer, BankservAfrica
