Bank Zero working on smartphone tap payments

Bank Zero chairman Michael Jordaan has announced that South Africa’s youngest digital bank is working on three new features, including integrating smartphone wallets for tap payments.

“[The] team is working hard on Pay Many, Immediate Payments, and Phone Tap Payments,” Jordaan said on Twitter/X.

He said Pay Many could be used for salary payments, while Immediate Payments is like PayShap but without restrictions.

Although Jordaan did not specify which platforms Bank Zero would support for phone tap payments, the obvious choices are Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay.

Garmin Pay and Fitbit Pay are also available in South Africa and are supported by most of South Africa’s traditional banks.

MyBroadband contacted Bank Zero for comment on Jordaan’s remarks.

A spokesperson for the bank said that all phone options are being evaluated, and watch support will follow later.

In October last year, Bank Zero launched services for commercial clients.

This added advanced features like setting up an in-house banking team for creating and approving payments, changing mandates, and granting access privileges within the Bank Zero app.

It had also promised that it was working on bulk payments and collections, and Jordaan has now confirmed that work on this feature continues.

Towards the end of last year, Bank Zero also announced several reductions in fees.

These included card delivery fees and the costs for adding a new cheque account or disputing a transaction.