By Mark Elliott , Division President , Mastercard Southern Africa

The app economy has changed the way we live . We depend on our smartphone apps for everything from entertainment to photography , to messaging , personal productivity and ordering transport or accommodation . In South Africa , we ’ re increasingly using our smartphones for in-app , in-store and online payments .

We ’ re also seeing merchants use apps that turn their smartphones into point of sale devices or use QR codes to accept mobile payments from their customers . The mobile device brings the convenience , safety and customer choice associated with cashless transactions to spaza shops , flea market stalls , trades people like plumbers and electricians , and other sectors where traditional card terminals are not a practical or affordable solution .

Mobile innovations need to improve the consumer experience

As we think about the rapid adoption of mobile payments , the promise of mobile payment services lies in creating safer , richer experiences for consumers and merchants . The key is not to simply recreate what you could do before , but to make paying for things simpler , safer and faster . That ’ s why connecting with consumers wherever they are and whenever they want is critical .

Imagine , for example , a world where people don ’ t need to queue for hours to send money to their families in the rural areas or where no one needs to withdraw cash from an ATM and then stand in a long queue at a retailer on a Saturday to pay a rates bill . They don ’ t even need to log in to online banking and input a lot of payment information . Instead , they ’ ll be able to scan a QR code on the statement and pay from an app . This is a world where merchants don ’ t need to keep large amounts of cash on their premises . It ’ s one where consumers demand convenience and control , and expect payment experiences to make their lives better .

We are not talking about a distant future , either . In South Africa , more than 900,000 ratepayers in the City of Ekurhuleni can pay their municipal bills online with their smartphones , using Masterpass , our global digital payment service . Masterpass is also accepted online by a growing list of merchants of all sizes as well as in-app for convenient air and data mobile top-up .

Partnerships key to drive mass digital payment adoption

The consumer experience is simple , but there is a lot of complexity in the background . Without collaboration across industries to ensure that digital payments systems are secure and interoperable , it will be impossible to deliver the experiences consumers demand or to scale mobile payments .

That ’ s why we are collaborating with key players to develop and deliver new consumer propositions that span multiple industries across multiple channels – in-store , in-app and online .

One example is the partnership between Mastercard and Entersekt to enable Nedbank ’ s customers to make QR payments to Masterpass , Pay @, SnapScan , and Zapper merchants and billers through the Nedbank Money app , whether they are paying online or at a physical point of presence . This market-first development means that Nedbank Money users need just one smartphone app for all major domestic scan-to-pay services , rather than needing to store card data in multiple apps , and they will be able to use biometrics as an authentication method .

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