Cross-border payments to reflect within seconds in these African countries

People and businesses in Africa often have to wait days for money sent from one country to another to reflect. However, FNB and BankservAfrica have partnered to put an end to this struggle.

Payments up to R25,000 between South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini will be received immediately after they have been made.

Previously, most of FNB’s cross-border payments were done via electronic fund transfer (EFT), however, there have been changes in compliance regulations that needed a more compliant system.

Similar to EFT

“This will offer an automated process for cross-border payments that feels almost identical to the EFT process they are familiar with, but offers significant improvements, including immediate payment clearance, low costs and high-security features,” said Richard Porter, CEO of Forex at FNB

One of the benefits of their partnership is payments will be processed in near real-time, even outside traditional banking hours, including evenings, weekends and public holidays.

BankservAfrica launched its first its first real-time cross-border transactions between Zimbabwe and Namibia.

“The bank’s immediate services were designed to simplify cross-border digital P2P payments, reduce remittance costs and support activity for the benefit of economies.”

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Greater economic participation in SADC

Tebogo Diphoko, Africa Strategic Business Development at BankservAfrica is of a view that the real-time cross-border payments will foster greater economic participation between Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries for activities such as remittances or similar day-to-day transactions.

Data from the 2022 Mastercard Borderless Payments Report showed that cross-border payments from people in South Africa helped the recipients survive financially, with 59% who made these payments to family and friends over the last year saying they would not have survived financially without that support compared to 40% globally.

More findings from 2022 report

For this report, Mastercard surveyed nearly 8,000 consumers across 15 different markets.

According to the report, nearly half (45%) of those who make online cross-border payments surveyed globally say their family members abroad still struggle financially and need their financial support.

While more than half (54%) say they relied on online cross-border payments more than ever before. The data suggests the trend is here to stay, with 71% saying that although they can now travel home, they will continue to send money online because it is so easy to do.

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