Nedbank to roll out new Contactless Payments Solution.

Nedbank is planning to roll out a new contactless payment solution known as “Tap on Phone” to enable merchants and business owners to convert their mobile phones into ‘payment acceptance devices.’

The ‘Tap-on-Phone’ solution would help SMEs to use smartphones to accept quick, easy, and secure, payments from their customers for goods or services.

The payment solution comes at the time where there is a need for contactless payment to eliminate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Group Managing Executive for Nedbank Retail and Business Banking, Ciko Thomas said, “The challenges presented by COVID-19 demand that the world of payments evolves even quicker, and banks must respond by providing innovative ways for businesses to connect with their customers through easy, inclusive and preferably contactless payments solutions.”

According to Thomas, the tap on phone uses the same strong security as physical payment terminals since customers do not hand over their physical bank cards to a merchant when paying.

The new feature will also save businesses costs on expensive hardware such as Point of Sale machines, fixed data, or telephone lines needed for transactions.

All businesses need is an Android device of version 7.0 or newer which enables Near-Field-communication (NFC) while customers need a Nedbank contactless payment card for every transaction.

Tap on phone was a collaborative partnership between Nedbank, Mastercard, Synthesis, and iVeri.

Country Manager for Mastercard South Africa, Suzanne Morel said, “We are pleased to partner with Nedbank to further support small businesses, as they adapt to meet the needs of their customers who are increasingly looking for contactless ways to pay, particularly amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Tap on phone provides consumers with peace of mind and the freedom of choice in how they pay, either by tapping their card or scanning a QR code”

The payment solution is currently in the pilot phase and has been provided to some of the Nedbank merchants including individual and business clients.

The client base will increase in the second half of 2020 where the technology will be made available to all Nedbank clients and third-party application developers.