When FNB ended its homegrown tap-to-pay functionality in 2024 to instead support third-party digital wallet apps like Google Wallet, it left a few of its customers in an awkward position. Mainly those customers who own a Huawei device without Google Mobile Services (GMS), which, after 2020, is pretty much all of them.
Despite owning an NFC-capable device, without access to GMS, these devices couldn’t take advantage of apps such as Google Wallet or Samsung Pay in SA. Now, FNB has announced that it now supports Swoo Pay. Swoo is another digital wallet service that is most notably available on the Huawei AppGallery or via HarmonyOS.
Adding tap-to-pay in one fell Swoo
“Over the years, we have consistently focused on giving all our customers choice and increased access to a wider variety of digital payment solutions. The enablement of Swoo Pay makes contactless payments more accessible to those customers using Huawei devices,” says Senzo Nsibande, CEO of Card at FNB.
Before the arrival of Swoo Pay, Huawei owners in South Africa were unable to use tap-to-pay functionality, with many being forced to use scan-to-pay services instead if they wanted to make contactless transactions. Here’s hoping that other banks can partner with Swoo Pay to extend the power to all Huawei owners in SA.
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Huawei owners don’t only have tap-to-pay to look forward to. According to Swoo CEO Kirill Gorynya, users will get access to the Swoo Tokenback loyalty programme, “which returns up to 90% of purchase value as digital tokens.” These can be traded in for cryptocurrency, partner bonuses, or money, according to the Swoo website.
FNB customers can grab Swoo Pay from their device’s AppGallery. Then, follow the prompts to add a virtual card and activate it securely via the FNB banking app or call centre. “Once activated, they can then enjoy the convenience of ‘tap to pay’ at any contactless point of sale,” FNB said.
