PayShap reaches 30 million mark

Source: Supplied.

“We are thrilled to report on the exceptional growth for this service stemming from the industry-led Rapid Payments Programme, which supports ongoing efforts to modernise the National Payment System and deepen digital financial inclusion,” says Stephen Linnell, chief executive officer of BankservAfrica.

According to BankservAfrica, the gradual migration of transactions from legacy payment rails to PayShap by some participating banks has contributed to the rising transaction numbers.

This transition forms part of the industry’s payments modernisation strategy, leading to a lower cost system for real-time payments that will potentially bring in more of the unbanked and underbanked into the financial system.

In May 2023, the number of PayShap transactions stood at 250,000, with four participating banks onboard. This has since grown with six more participating banks joining the PayShap community, bringing the total number to 10 active participants. More banks will soon be onboarded.

The consumer uptake of the PayShap service continues to strengthen as shown by the number of registered ShapIDs increasing to over 6 million since launch. This unique identifier allows users to receive payments using their bank-registered cellphone numbers thereby simplifying a payment and increasing accessibility for users.

“As part of our market drive for PayShap, we will continue to focus our efforts on broadening adoption, especially as we prepare to introduce the Request-to-Pay feature later this year for small business owners and merchants,” ends Linnell.