How the Rapid Payments Programme Can Help Banks Support Vision 2025

July 15, 2021

Electrum Payments

Electrum Payments

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How the Rapid Payments Programme Can Help Banks Support Vision 2025

The Rapid Payments Programme (RPP) is set to come into effect this year. As a bank, being an early adopter can help you support the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Vision 2025, which aims to reduce the number of unbanked South Africans. Here’s how Electrum can help banks get up and running with the RPP quickly.

Vision 2025 is a strategy initiated by the Reserve Bank to modernise payment systems and, in turn, improve social and economic conditions for South Africans. SARB has recognised that achieving this vision requires collaboration with industry stakeholders to develop innovative solutions that are aligned with Vision 2025’s nine goals. These goals focus on developing payment systems that are transparent, secure, easy-to-use, financially inclusive, and flexible, so as to make it easier for more of the population to enter the digital economy.

The Rapid Payments Programme

The RPP due to launch in 2021 is an example of BankservAfrica’s contribution to Vision 2025. Its end goal is to make real-time payments simpler and more cost-effective.

While South Africa was one of the first countries to introduce real-time clearing, the infrastructure on which the system was built is decades old, making immediate payments between banks cumbersome and expensive. This has resulted in more customers favouring cash over electronic transfers.

Modernising real-time payments

BankservAfrica has invited all South African banks to include three new feature enhancements in their product offering over the next few months:

  • Immediate credit push

  • Simple pay-by-proxy, and

  • Request-to-pay functionality

Here’s what these features look like, and how they will benefit your customers:

Real-time payments between banks

Being able to transfer funds immediately, regardless of which bank each party banks with, will reduce reliance on cash because the transfer of value is more secure and happens in seconds, just like a physical exchange.

A simpler way to pay

The RPP will allow for the use of proxies, such as the recipient’s phone number, to replace account numbers. Before making payment, the proxy resolution, which links to stored account details, will also return payee information for the payer to verify before pressing ‘send’. This will reduce the anxiety around loading various beneficiary details, such as account numbers, branch codes and payment references.

QR codes will also be used to further reduce friction in the payment process and protect each parties’ personal data because they do not require disclosure of any personal information: A payer simply has to scan the payee’s account linked QR code to initiate payment.

Payment request functionality

While this feature will only be launched at a later stage, the request-to-pay functionality will make it easier for payees to secure payments owed to them: When a payment is due, they can simply send a notification to the payer’s mobile device for immediate initiation and authorisation.

Getting ready for RPP

Working with a technology partner that has experience in providing creative transaction processing solutions, without impacting on critical legacy systems, will help banks effectively respond to BankservAfrica’s modernisation project within the tight timelines. With the goal for all banks to roll out solutions by early 2022, becoming an early adopter is key to ensure customer loyalty.

With years of experience developing innovative solutions for South Africa’s largest bank, as well as major retailers, Electrum’s technology can help you meet this target, and delight your customers, by offering the following major advantages:

  • Quick to market: Our turnkey solutions and open-source APIs will help you test and launch your product fast.

  • An agile stack: Our technology is cloud native, which means we can help you build and run scalable solutions in modern, dynamic environments.

  • A secure platform: Electrum’s platform is fully compliant and ITIL COBIT PCI-DSS and ISO27001 certified, trusted by our biggest partners.

If you’re interested in finding out more about how we can help you navigate this new era in the South African payments landscape, get in touch with us here. You can also read more about real-time payments here.

Electrum Payments

Electrum Payments

Electrum provides transaction processing solutions to banks, retailers, and MNOs, helping them to find better ways to transact. As a vibrant and innovative SaaS company, we deliver industry-leading expertise and technology to solve real problems every day.

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