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Absa focuses on innovation
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RedditAbsa says it will continue to invest substantial human capital and finances into retail banking technology and innovation.
“In line with customer expectations, we are committed to innovating on an on-going basis. This is significant as the ways of payments have evolved and continue to evolve,” says Arrie Rautenbach, head of Retail Markets at Absa.
Looking at possible future trends in payments, Rautenbach projects that, unsurprisingly, the mobile phones will become the key device for making payments.
According to the 2011 World Wide Worx’s Mobility report, 44% of urban mobile-phone users now access banking services via phones. Customers aged between 26 and 34 years are the highest users at 41%, while 11% of people older than 45 utilise it.
“What makes Absa’s contactless or ‘tap and go’ developments so significant is that these solutions provide the key gateway to mobile transactions. To provide a consistent and seamless service to retail merchants with regard to card payments, our cards are becoming virtual, they are moving to mobile, and – going forward – consumers will simply need to tap their mobile phones against the same readers to pay with their mobile phones in future,” says Rautenbach.
The bank has introduced contactless payments which allow consumers to conveniently pay for low value purchases in retail outlets and fares in public transport vehicles by tapping the contactless cards against the reader.
In 2011, Absa extended the application and use of its Point-of-Sale devices to include basic banking transactions which can now be performed in-store at selected merchants.
An Android based remote account opening App was also introduced enabling the opening of bank accounts and the issue of debit cards to new customers in less than 10 minutes.
“With the above in mind, we expect that over the next five years, the mobile-phone will become a commonly used device for effecting payments. Absa is already playing in that space. Keep an eye out for impending innovative firsts from Absa in this domain,” hints Rautenbach.
