Mastercard & PayCentral partner to launch virtual card – DigiCentral

By Pavithra R

PayCentral, a digital payment FinTech has announced partnering with Mastercard to launch DigiCentral, a secure online platform that provides small business (SMB) owners with a simple, swift and cost-effective way of paying out incentives, rewards, gifting, corporate expenses and salaries to their employees through a prepaid virtual card.

To complete an online purchase, DigiCentral virtual cardholders receive a 16-digit card number, security code and expiry date, which they would use much like a physical card. It can be linked to online retail apps like Checkers 60 Sixty, Uber, Uber Eats, and others.

For in-store purchases in South Africa, the virtual card can be loaded to any Masterpass enabled digital wallet. Once loaded, the cardholder can use their mobile phone to scan QR code displayed at checkout at retailers and billers that accept Masterpass payments.

“Social distancing has changed the way consumers pay and they now opt for touch-free, secure, and seamless ways to pay without compromising their health and safety. This, in turn, has accelerated the demand for safe and secure virtual cards. Through our partnership with PayCentral, we can help small business owners to better meet the needs of their employees – without the costs and risks associated with cash,” said Suzanne Morel, Country Manager, Mastercard, South Africa.

According to PayCentral, removing cash from the financial ecosystem has always been the primary focus to reduce the crime threats to business owners as well as to salary recipients. The risk of using cash as a primary means to transact puts households in danger, particularly in the lower-income brackets.

The PayCentral online portal allows SMBs access to a card management platform which has full reporting capability at no monthly cost. The portal provides business owners full control of their money movement without depending on third parties to meet deadlines. The payroll process remains the same, but the disbursement of funds will be onto a card instead of cash or into bank accounts.

Besides shifting to virtual cards, PayCentral’s products also include a physical Mastercard prepaid card that allows recipients to withdraw cash from any ATM and certain POS terminals countrywide. Benefits to the cardholders include:

• Low fees compared to bank account monthly commitments
• No bank account required
• Free Access to balances and transaction history through app and online
• Instant payments at times of need
• No more risk of being paid in cash

“A large part of our focus in South Africa is directed toward SMEs. We find that owners of smaller business need options when it comes to paying their staff as well as managing their petty cash and expenses. Working with small businesses for the past five years has allowed us to see them grow as a result of the payment products we offer,” said Veenash Parbhoo founder of PayCentral.