Overview
PayShap is a payment method that allows individuals to make an immediate electronic payment to an account held at their own or another financial institution. The payment is processed and cleared in real or near-real time.
The scheme mandates that the funds are available in the beneficiary's account within 10 seconds.
PayShap generally applies to high-volume, low-value transactions of under R50000.
There are different types of PayShap transactions.
- Account-based (referred to as 'pay-by-account'). An industry bank customer initiates a payment to the corporate client. The beneficiary's account is identified using an account identifier.
- Proxy-based (referred to as 'pay-by-proxy'). An industry bank customer initiates a payment to the corporate client.The beneficiary's account is identified using a proxy (also referred to as a ShapID) such as a mobile phone number.
- Request-to-pay (RTP). The corporate client requests that a customer at an industry bank makes a payment to them. If that customer accepts the request, then the customer's bank will initiate the payment to the client.
Refer to the Identifying a Payment Beneficiary section for details on how a beneficiary of a proxy-based payment should be identified in the business partner payments context.
The pay-by-proxy and request-to-pay methods are the only ones currently available for EPC PayShap transactions.
BankservAfrica acts as the payment clearing house by processing the transactions and effecting settlement between the relevant banks' accounts at the Reserve Bank.
Once a PayShap payment has been cleared, it is irrevocable. If an erroneous payment has occurred, the participants must resolve this between themselves by following the dispute resolution process as defined by PASA (Payments Association of South Africa).
Transaction Phases
PayShap transactions are processed in different phases.
- Proxy Resolution (applicable to pay-by-proxy transactions only). The proxy resolution phase will verify the beneficiary’s account details to the payer before proceeding with the payment.
- Request-to-pay (applicable to RTP transactions only). This phase involves the corporate client requesting that a customer at an industry bank makes a payment to them.
- Clearing (applicable to pay-by-proxy, pay-by-account, and RTP transactions). The clearing phase effects the payment to the beneficiary’s account.