Nedbank app is paying off

Nedbank, working with Mastercard and Entersekt, has launched QR (quick-response) payments to Masterpass, Pay@, SnapScan and Zapper merchants and billers in its Money app – for use online or in-store.

QR codes are the bar codes at the bottom of a restaurant bill than can be scanned with a smartphone to settle the amount electronically. They have become a popular way of paying for goods and services both online and at the physical point of sale.

Yesterday’s announcement means Nedbank Money users need just one smartphone app for all major South African scan-topay services, the companies said in a statement. This represents a combined footprint of more than 100 000 retail points of presence and 800 billers, they said.

The move builds on Mastercard’s strategy to ensure interoperability between its Masterpass digital payments platform and the country’s other major mobile and digital payments services. In the past 18 months, Mastercard has enabled Zapper and SnapScan vendors to accept Masterpass payments and enabled Masterpass merchants to accept Zapper and SnapScan payments.

The developments will help drive interoperability across the payments ecosystem and reduce the need for consumers to use multiple apps, said Mastercard South Africa division president Mark Elliott. Nedbank clients can make payments via one trusted app rather than needing to store card data in multiple apps. They can also use biometrics as an authentication method.

Called Nedbank Scan-to-Pay, the feature was developed by Stellenbosch-based Entersekt. Through its integration with Masterpass, Entersekt’s payments product Connekt enables all the scan-to-pay services in the app.

The feature has been rolled out to users of the Nedbank Money app following an automatic update.

At the same time, Nedbank has launched a service in the app called Pay Me. This secure money transfer request feature allows app users to request payments directly from other Nedbank clients.

The user sends a “pay me” request either by entering the recipient’s name and cellphone, or by selecting an existing contact from their mobile phone book. The recipient then receives an SMS with all the banking details, dispensing with the need to request these.

The bank has also announced the launch of a cross-border remittance solution to allow user to make “instant and inexpensive funds transfers”.

Developed in partnership with Ecobank, the function allows Nedbank account holders to send money to Ecobank account holders in 33 countries across Africa with transferred funds available in the recipient’s account usually immediately.

This article was first published on TechCentral.