PayShap hits R19.5 billion

The South African Reserve Bank and BankservAfrica’s PayShap system has recorded 30 million transactions valued at R19.5 billion since its launch.

The Rapid Payments Programme went live in March 2023, letting South African banking customers send and receive money using their cellphone number as a stand-in, or proxy, for their bank account number.

“We are thrilled to report on the exceptional growth for this service stemming from the industry-led Rapid Payments Programme,” said BankservAfrica CEO Stephen Linnell.

He added that the system supports the modernisation of the National Payment System.

BankservAfrica says some banks’ gradual migration of transactions from legacy systems to PayShap has contributed to the increasing transaction numbers.

Following its rollout in March, the number of PayShap transactions climbed to 250,000 by May 2023.

Four banks participated at the time: FNB, Absa, Nedbank, and Standard Bank. Since then, six banks have added the PayShap system to their platforms.

It noted that the number of registered ShapIDs has increased to over six million, which it said shows that consumer uptake of the system is strengthening.

“This unique identifier allows users to receive payments using their bank-registered cellphone numbers thereby simplifying a payment and increasing accessibility for users,” says BankservAfrica.

Linnell said the company will continue to focus on broadening adoption of the PayShap system and is preparing to introduce a Request-to-Pay feature for small business owners and merchants.