Cross-border payments in Africa are crucial for individuals and companies, providing quick, safe, and affordable options for everyday money transfers to friends, colleagues, and relatives abroad.
To accommodate its clients’ changing needs, FNB has teamed with BankservAfrica for its Transactions Cleared on an Immediate Basis (TCIB) technology. This solution would process low-value payments inside the Common Monetary Area (CMA) of South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, and Eswatini on an instantaneous, 24/7 basis.
The move is part of FNB‘s continued effort to improve its client products while meeting the most recent regulatory standards for cross-border payments. Traditionally, the majority of FNB’s cross-border payments inside the Common Monetary Area were processed via EFT, but as compliance regulations evolved, the necessity for a more compliant system became obvious. BankservAfrica’s TCIB solution was chosen as the best replacement because it ensures compliance while improving transaction speed, convenience, and security.
FNB integrates the BankservAfrica platform, enabling cross-border payments between accounts in CMA countries via the Global Payments platform.
BankservAfrica’s TCIB solution
BankservAfrica’s revolutionary cross-border payments technology, the TCIB system, enables transactions to be cleared immediately. It not only matches the convenience of EFT payments, but it also introduces various additional benefits, such as real-time processing, enhanced security, and payment processing around the clock.
“The transition to TCIB was an important step for us,” said Richard Porter, CEO of Forex at FNB. “Our clients will experience a seamless, automated process for cross-border payments that feels almost identical to the EFT process they are familiar with but offers significant improvements, including immediate payment clearance, low costs, and high security features.”
One of the most notable advantages of the TCIB system is the speed with which transactions are completed and the lack of time constraints. Payments can now be handled in near real time, even during non-traditional banking hours such as evenings, weekends, and public holidays. This level of ease is a significant improvement over the previous EFT system, which was restricted to regular banking hours.
According to Tebogo Diphoko, Africa Strategic Business Development at BankservAfrica, “the adoption of TCIB by FNB aligns with the shared goals of both organizations to promote financial inclusion and increase access to financial services across Southern Africa. By enabling low-cost, immediate payments across borders, TCIB fosters greater economic participation between SADC countries for activities such as remittances or similar day-to-day transactions.”.
New Beneficiary Verification Process to Prevent Payment Errors
In the next months, the bank intends to implement a system update that will include an automatic beneficiary account verification process that will occur as soon as beneficiary details are provided, at no additional cost to the client. This additional layer of protection ensures that all payments are made to valid accounts, lowering the chance of fraud and errors.
“Over the years we have made sizeable investments into constantly integrating advanced technology into our platform-based business, which has allowed us to transform the FX landscape and, more importantly, the cross-border payments experience of all our individual and business clients. With solutions such as TCIB being added to our array of cross-border payment solutions, we have widened our offerings to ensure that we provide our clients with a variety of valuable solutions for their individual and commercial needs,” adds Porter.
“We are pleased to partner with FNB and take the lead in introducing this innovative solution to the market. This represents a significant milestone in TCIB’s journey towards ensuring equal access to cross-border payments and promoting inclusive payments throughout the region and the wider SADC community. We believe in the strength of meaningful collaborations to make this possible, reflected in the well-known African proverb: ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’,” says Ruhling Herbst, Executive Head: Africa Business Development at BankservAfrica.
The partnership between FNB and BankservAfrica marks a new era of efficient and inclusive financial services in the region. With TCIB’s ability to process peer-to-peer remittances, it is set to become the preferred cross-border payment service in the Common Monetary Area and potentially across the broader African continent.
