Contactless payments continue to gain traction in South Africa, with Standard Bank saying it has issued more than 11 222 devices to merchants and that some 7 370 have adopted its “tap and go” solution. The bank adds that over R16-billion in payment transactions has been processed by merchants in South Africa since Standard Bank first introduced the contactless payment technology to its customers in 2012.
Standard Bank has confirmed that it will roll out new smartcard IDs at branches countrywide, as announced by the Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, earlier this week. Sibongiseni Ngundze, head of retail banking at Standard Bank, says: “We always aim to put our customer at the heart of our operation. This form of public and private collaboration marks a move to cement our strategy of becoming a truly innovative customer-centric institution.”
Standard Bank has launched its dedicated innovation lab, dubbed the PlayRoom. The PlayRoom is a 1 927 square metre creative hub in Johannesburg that seeks to unearth disruptive ideas from staff, customers and start-up businesses, allowing the bank to research and test in a controlled environment, before releasing new solutions into the market.