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PayPal arrives in South Africa
| Tom Manners | March 24, 2010 | No comments |
Tom Manners
Tom Manners is now a freelance journalist, previously full-time at MyBroadband from 2009 to 2010. Tom focuses on cellular technologies, gadgets, mobile phones and broadcasting....
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FNB confirms PayPal partnership; service details revealed
After weeks of speculation following a leak on Twitter that FNB would be bringing PayPal to South Africa the banking group has today confirmed that its users will have access to the international online payment service as part of its internet banking package.
PayPal offers online users a secure service through which to engage in online transactions, allowing users to send and receive funds from other users in any participant PayPal country.
According to PayPal the platform offers a “safer, easier way to pay and get paid online. The service allows anyone to pay in any way they prefer, including through credit cards, bank accounts, buyer credit or account balances, without sharing financial information.”
All local users who wish to gain access to South African PayPal accounts must hold an account with FNB and must have access to the group’s online banking platform. In addition to this prospective users must hold a registered South African PayPal account.
After a short account linking process, which fills the South African Reserve Bank’s need for all cross border transactions to be reported, users will be able to top up and access their PayPal accounts via FNB’s online banking platform.
According to Chris Savides, Innovation Manager from eBucks and a key player in brokering the deal between FNB and PayPal, South African users will only be able to interact with their PayPal accounts in US Dollar format. For this reason the bank has incorporated a live foreign exchange quote into its online banking portal when topping up an account.
At this time there are no concrete plans to incorporate other currencies, including the Rand, into the service.
FNB will charge a commission fee of 1.5% on the amount deposited into PayPal accounts. Savides confirmed that no additional charges, with the exception of standard internet banking fees, will be levied.
“From an FNB perspective the only applicable cost will be the commission as well as standard PayPal usage fees,” said FNB.
A top up will be reflected on the users PayPal account 24 to 72 hours after deposit.
Oded Zehavi, PayPal regional director for Israel and South Africa, confirmed that local users who hold international PayPal accounts will need to open new South African based accounts in order to access the FNB service.
Both Zehavi and Savides confirmed that FNB holds an exclusive agreement with PayPal to offer the service in South Africa but could not reveal the terms of the contract or how long this would stand for.
Savides said that the two parties had been working towards releasing PayPal in South Africa for two years, adding that the country may be “the entry point to Africa for PayPal”.
PayPal arrives in South Africa << Discussion
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