Nedbank is testing a new contactless payments solution that allows all merchants and business owners to convert their mobile phones into ‘payment acceptance devices’. In a first for Africa, Nedbank is currently the only bank to offer this capability.
The ‘Tap-on-Phone’ solution is said to make it easier for SMEs to use their compatible smartphones to accept quick, easy, and secure, payments from their customers for goods or services.
Nedbank says that this solution, which is inspired by the current COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting social distancing rules, enables contactless payment acceptance and there’s no health risk to the merchant or customer.
“The challenges presented by COVID-19 demand that the world of payments evolves even quicker, and banks must respond by providing innovative ways for businesses to connect with their customers through easy, inclusive and preferably contactless payments solutions,” says Ciko Thomas, Group Managing Executive for Nedbank Retail and Business Banking.
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Thomas says that tap on phone uses the same strong security as physical payment terminals and meets Mastercard and Visa requirements. The security is further enhanced by the fact that customers do not have to hand over their physical bank cards to a merchant when paying.
He also points out that tap on phone saves businesses money and time because they can receive electronic payments without having to invest in costly hardware such as a point-of-sale (POS) device or fixed data or telephone lines before they can start trading. An Android device that is on version 7.0 or newer, and is NFC-enabled, is all they need. This makes the functionality especially valuable for SMMEs, and informal traders that could not previously accept debit and credit card payments.
The tap-on-phone functionality is currently in pilot phase and has been provided to a selection of Nedbank merchants including individual and business clients. This client base will be increased during the second half of 2020, after which the technology will be made available to all Nedbank clients and third-party application developers.
