Guess what? PayShap, South Africa’s super cool real-time digital payments service, is officially here!

South Africa is set to take a significant step towards modernizing its payments system with the launch of PayShap on March 13. Developed jointly by Bankserv and the South African Reserve Bank, PayShap promises to make real-time digital payments easier and safer for banked and underbanked consumers as reported by Techcabal.

PayShap will allow individuals to make low-value payments of up to R3000 in real-time, regardless of which bank they use.

Mpho Sadiki, Head of Real-Time Payments at BankservAfrica, hailed the launch of PayShap as a major milestone in South Africa’s payments journey. The rollout of PayShap will occur in two stages. The first stage will feature the PayShap instant clearing feature, which enables individuals to pay by account or pay-by-proxy using a unique identifier like a cell phone number (ShapID). The second stage will introduce a request-to-pay function that allows users to request payment and receive funds instantly and securely in their bank accounts.

PayShap will be accessible to all individuals as long as the payer and recipient’s banks offer the service. According to Sadiki, PayShap aims to reduce the dependence on cash and accelerate the adoption of digital payments in South Africa. With PayShap, 2023 promises to be a year of significant change for payments in the country.

Photo: Facebook / @PayShap