Banking group, Absa, has launched a new payment option called Absa Pay, which it says will give its clients a more secure and quicker payment method when making purchases.
The option will be available for purchases made through online merchants and will remove the need to enter bank card details.
Instead of entering card details (name, numbers, and CVV), customers can now select “Absa Pay” on the merchant site, which will direct them to a secure Absa portal.
The transaction will then require the customer to approve it in their Absa Banking App for added security and fraud prevention.
The bank said the system uses its new Application Programming Interface (API) to allow the bank and the merchant site to communicate with each other directly and more securely to prevent potential fraud.
The API is integrated into various payment aggregators and merchant websites and enables consumers to pay directly from their bank account in a few brief steps.
“Earlier this year, Absa partnered with a payment aggregator and its merchant community, to conduct a pilot study and introduce the API to market. This successfully demonstrated Absa’s ability to securely process and monitor transactions through the API,” the bank said.
Absa said it is also collaborating with other payment service providers and is expected announce more developments over the next few months.
While the new payment method is safer and more secure, the bank advised customers to not get complacent and to remain vigilant when conducting digital transactions.
“(Your) PIN and password should not be shared with third-party sites,” the group said.
The group currently has over 3 million active digital banking customers.