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Standard Bank launches SnapScan for mobile payments

Screenshot_2014-05-21-11-00-35You’re out getting your favourite home-made ice-cream at the local craft market but don’t have any cash. Now you have to face the frustration of finding the closest ATM to draw money… or do you?

Today htxt.africa is at the SnapScan payment app launch with Standard Bank which the bank is hoping will eliminate problems like these for the average consumer.

SnapScan is Standard Bank’s effort to create a digital payments system that eliminates the need for cards, cash and paper for both merchants and customers. Merchants for that matter don’t even need to have a bank account to receive money using the SnapScan app by utilising Standard Bank’s existing Instant Money solution which issues a voucher that can be redeemed for cash at Standard Bank AcessPoint ATMs and even SPAR supermarkets.

While SnapScan is a Standard Bank product, customers can use any Master Card or Visa credit cards as well as most debit or hybrid cards from any bank to transact using the app.

Once your account details, like your credit card number and name, have been entered using the app is as simple as scanning a QR code at the merchant’s location and entering the amount for your payment. The payment is then processed directly off of your card with an SMS notification going to the merchant to let them know that you’ve paid.

Privacy-wise, you card is secured by a pin code that you choose during the setup process and your cards details are encrypted with a key sitting on the Standard Bank servers and the data kept on the phone is also encrypted in a sandbox on the phone to keep it from being accessed by file explorers and the like.

Merchants will be charged a flat fee of 3% to process the card payments but Standard Bank is moving to drive that cost further down as more payment methods, like loyalty points or direct debits straight off of accounts, get added to the platform.

At the moment only one card can be linked to one device, and vice versa with Standard Bank busy mulling over whether they’ll change that because of the increased risk to fraud that would come with the change. The upside to linking the card and the device together means that Standard Bank can block each individual device from being able to use the app if fraud is detected.

The app is available for iOS, Android (above 2.3.3) and BlackBerry 5,6 and 7. BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone are as yet unsupported but that may change on the future.

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