platform, has launched a “payment corridor” that facilitates the clearance of payments between South Africa and Zambia in just 60 seconds.Other SADC payment corridors, including between Zimbabwe and South Africa, will follow soon.Similar to Payshap, TCIB allows financial institutions to use its infrastructure to deliver instant payment solutions to end users.
According to Herbst, by building the infrastructure required for real-time cross-border payments, BankServAfrica removes that burden from financial institutions that would have to build separate individual channels and then work those costs into their pricing, which disadvantages consumers.BankServAfrica’s aim, he said, is to reduce the cost of sending money across SADC by taking advantage of economies of scale to provide a platform that any authorised financial institution can join.
Now that the platform has gone live, Herbst explained, the data aggregated from the transactions on the system will give policymakers insight into the needs of consumers on the ground and help them make high-level decisions based on real data, as opposed to the current perspective that only has sight of the flow of money through formal channels such as the banks.