Electronic payment service PayShap’s owner BankservAfrica, a company specialising in clearing automated payments, is adopting a new system that will see the app’s payment limit increase from R3,000 to R50,000. While full implementation depends on each participating bank, this increased limit will allow the platform to facilitate larger transactions that also benefit small businesses.
PayShap it forward
BankservAfrica CEO Stephen Linnell informed TechCentral that not all participating banks have enabled the payment increase option for their customers yet. According to Linell, the main reason why this took so long was due to BankservAfrica’s adherence to the real-time clearing (RTC) system. Cutting edge when it was introduced twenty years ago, the RTC system was once the gold standard but has now become archaic. “We are looking to migrate the flows off RTC and onto PayShap so we can turn off the old systems and move them onto the newer, cheaper platform,” he explains.
This payment limit increase allows the electronic payment platform to expand its audience from everyday people to wealthy individuals and large businesses. PayShap reaffirms its commitment to providing easy affordable banking for underprivileged groups in the country.
PayShap is an interbank payment platform that uses phone numbers as identifiers. It was launched in March 2023 with support from major SA banks ABSA, FNB, Nedbank, and Standard Bank. Capitec and Tyme would join later. Each bank adopts its own fee structure for using the platform. Most offer a tier-based pricing system based on the amount users transfer. In August 2023 TymeBank was the only bank to make PayShap transactions completely free.
None of the previously mentioned banks have made official announcements concerning the feature’s implementation.
