A mobile wallet
South Africans could soon be paying more of their accounts using a mobile phone, thanks to a newly-launched mobile payment system called SWAP.
With a SWAP Wallet activated on their mobile phone, users can pay merchants directly using their SWAP funds, without incurring additional costs.
To get money into their mobile Wallets, users can accept transfers from any other Wallet or make electronic transfers to an ABSA account. Debit accounts and credit cards can be linked to a Wallet to add funds anytime they’re needed. Paying accounts using the SWAP Wallet is free but users are charged for certain transfers when they add money to their Wallet. There is also a charge for linking credit and debit cards to the Wallet.
The SWAP Wallet uses SWAP codes which are issued to businesses. When a SWAP Code is dialled from a cellphone to make a payment, funds are transferred directly to the business’s bank account.
SWAP is actively recruiting businesses to become SWAP Merchants and accept Wallet payments. The company is also inviting members of the public to visit its site at www.swapmobile.co.za and nominate businesses they’d like to be able to pay using their SWAP Wallets.
SWAP sales and marketing manager, Josh Loock, says that negotiations are under way with big corporates that issue store debit, credit and loyalty cards to integrate the SWAP Wallet with their mobile strategies. "This," says Loock, "will provide each corporate with an additional payment channel."
Users of the SWAP system can also be used to purchase cellphone airtime using their Wallet.
SWAP Mobile founder and CEO, Elsabe Donovan, says that "SWAP is a payment system, not a bank. Mobile banking and bank-based cellphone wallets simply haven’t impressed the market so far because they’re complicated and have failed to eliminate costly banking and transaction fees.
"What South Africans need," she says, "is a payment system that can be used free of charge and that is accessible to anyone, whether they have a bank account or not. Only four percent of the population has adapted to cellphone banking and a small proportion has access to Internet payments."
For businesses, the SWAP payment system also includes a Web console which can be used to monitor payments and manage their funds.
Cellphone users activate their Wallets for free by dialling *130*1313#
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