PayShap nearing one million transactions

­­­­­PayShap, South Africa’s first interbank, low-value real-time digital payments service, has recorded over 800,000 transactions since its launch in March 2023.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) launched PayShap to accelerate the country’s shift to a cashless society.

The rapid payment program (RPP) is an instant payment service allowing customers to transact using their phone numbers.

Fundi Tshazibana, the deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), said that PayShap is an opportunity to reduce transaction costs and build trust in digital payment methods.

According to data from BankservAfrica, over 800,000 transactions have been recorded with a settlement value of over R660 million since the PayShap launch. 

“In the first few months of its introduction to the market, there’s been consistent growth in the adoption levels and transaction volumes for the PayShap service from the participating banks,” said Bankserv African chief product officer Mpho Sadiki. 

“The strong response to this new digital payment service is what we hoped for, and we expect the uptake to rise as other banks come on board soon.”

PayShap data by BankservAfrica from the service’s launch date to 31 July 2023 shows that over 300,000 ShapIDs have been registered.  

As a secure registered PayShap identifier, ShapIDs are linked to participating account holders’ banking profiles, replacing the need to share bank account details for payment. 

Payments processed through PayShap are rapidly authenticated and cleared in the recipient’s bank account in seconds.

ShapIDs are linked to the account holder’s cellphone number for person-to-person payments and provide a secure, simple and convenient option for instant interbank payments.

“We are seeing an increase in users opting to use their mobile number as their ShapID for instant and convenient payments,” says Sadiki.

PayShap is currently offered by Absa, Discovery Bank, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank and is expected to be rolled out to other banks soon.