Nedbank along with Mastercard and Ukheshe launches Money Message

By Pavithra R

Nedbank, a leading bank in South Africa has partnered with Mastercard and Ukheshe to launch Money Message, a new payment platform that lets small and microbusinesses (SMBs) receive secure in-chat payments from their customers via WhatsApp.

The new solution will enable merchants in South Africa to send an invoice requesting payment from any customer seamlessly through WhatsApp. Their customers in turn can quickly and seamlessly settle payment directly from the platform.

‘The need for a diverse range of contactless payment methods is more important today than we could have possibly imagined, as we seek to rebuild the economy by giving businesses the ability to transact in a safe and secure way. In order to support entrepreneurship and sustainable business growth across all markets, we need to deliver low-cost, accessible and flexible solutions that leverage widely accessible technologies. Money Message looks to overcome a variety of cost, security and technical barriers by enabling micro merchants and their customers to transact with each other easily on an existing platform, which is WhatsApp,” said Chipo Mushwana, Executive: Emerging Payments at Nedbank.

Money Message can be accessed by anyone with a valid South African identity document and South African bank account. Merchants will need to first register for the service, and can immediately initiate a payment request. The business owner sends a request-to-pay message to the customer and a notification is sent via SMS prompting them to register for the service. The customer simply puts in their name, surname and registers their card details to make the payment securely. This means that customers can make secure, card-less payments via their cellphone numbers or QR codes.

“Every business owner is looking for ways to increase sales and reach new customers using different channels. By enabling smaller businesses to request digital payment through WhatsApp, they can achieve these goals and create greater customer loyalty with little to no investment beyond the phone they already have,” said Suzanne Morel, Country Manager at Mastercard, South Africa.

Money Message, rather than a banking plug-in, it is an innovative payment system that meets the unique needs of South African entrepreneurs. Currently, a beta version of Money Message has been made available to a small selection of micro-merchants for just over a month. The companies are planning to make the service gradually reach the broader market during the rest of the year.