Security is critical for secure payments

Payments fraud experienced by retail businesses remains persistent, despite declining for a third year in succession, according to the 2013 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey, says Lionel Slowe, head of the SADC project at BankservAfrica. The survey states that 61%...

Contactless payments 101

With the steady introduction of contactless payment systems in parts of South Africa, a new wave of convenience for low-value transactions is becoming a reality. But just what is this technology? How does it work, and is it secure? These are questions that many people...

Interoperability drives mobile payments

The proliferation of mobile devices in Africa has increased in the past few years and there is no doubt that these devices are moving beyond their role as phones and becoming enablers for a wide range of functionalities from mobile TV to electronic payments, says...

Pillars of PCI compliance

The Payments Association of South Africa (PASA) has mandated that merchants of all sizes that process, store or transmit credit card information must comply with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) security compliance by the end of 2013. Consequently, retailers have to...

Building an ecosystem for mobile payments

Mobile phone-based transactions have come of age in South Africa, with wiGroup’s platform, wiPlatform, processing over half a billion rands in transaction value during the first six months of 2013. “We have seen a 500% increase in mobile transaction volumes through...

Adoption of contactless payments

As South Africa steadily gears up for the widespread adoption of contactless payment systems, a local expert says consumers have plenty of convenience to look forward to. However, adoption is something of a “chicken and egg” challenge, as introducing the...