BankservAfrica and UnionPay International (UPI) have partnered to enable easier and safer ecommerce transactions for UPI cardholders across Africa. BankservAfrica and UPI have started collaboration to increase UPI ecommerce acceptance across several countries in Africa.

This builds on UPI's appointment of BankservAfrica, in December 2023, as its domestic processor for affordable, accessible, and innovative card payments for South Africa. Officials from BankservAfrica said that as one of the largest automated payments clearing houses in Africa, responsible for clearing and processing billions of low-value card, ATM, and account-to-account transactions annually, they are well-positioned to serve Africa's growing ecommerce market regionally and internationally. Boosting Africa’s ecommerce market UnionPay, already operating in 50 African countries, will further extend its network, currently spanning 183 countries worldwide, through this agreement.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 2023, this development could boost Africa's GDP by USD 180 billion by supporting the internet economy. Representatives from UnionPay said African markets have always been key and valued by UnionPay. The new project of enabling ecommerce acceptance offers great opportunities to existing UnionPay cardholders by providing African merchants expanded exposure to a global audience.

UPI and BankservAfrica believe this strategic partnership positions the organisations to be in the frontline of the accelerated ecommerce growth across the continent. The International Trade Administration estimates this rapid expansion will see about 500 million people using ecommerce for their everyday transactions by 2025. What does BankservAfrica do? BankservAfrica is the trusted payments partner and Financial Markets Infrastructure (FMI) to the financial services industry.

As an automated payments clearing house in Africa, they clear and process billions of low values card, ATM, and EFT transactions annually. Their role in the South African National Payments System (NPS) is to facilitate interoperability between the banks and ensure regulatory compliance with their regulators against international banking security best practice and standards and reduces risk and complexity in the industry. With over 50 years in South Africa, BankservAfrica operates 24/7, 365 days a year and delivers on strong SLAs.

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