There is no denying it any more, online banking is here to stay. Some people may not like the disruptive change it bring with it or devastating effect it has on their old ways of doing banking business but they cannot do anything about it. The banking halls are increasingly being reshaped into tech-compartments.
Until now, adapting technology for some financial institutions was primarily to reach the young demography who had dominated the use of technology from the start. Today, young people are not the only group coveting the technology space. Older people are shedding the toga of “living in the past” for “future”. As a result the online banking market is feverish with activities. The frenzy is such that on almost every other week there is a new online platform promising the “goodies”.
Online payment has many benefits. First it allows you to make payment faster and receive what you bought as compared to doing it manually. The same is applicable to paying your bills online. You save yourself the hassles of staying on queues in banks or dealing directly with the company, cost of transportation and the inconveniences that come with it.
On that background, we bring you the first five payment platforms that are gaining popular attention with simple but innovative solutions. While some of the platforms come directly from banks the rest are not owned by banks although they are tied to your bank accounts.
SimplePay
SimplePay is an innovative payments platform tailored to the Nigerian environment that allows you, the user, with an email address and a bank account to securely and conveniently send and receive payments online from any part of the world. What makes the payment platform unique is the ability to check all your bank accounts and also aggregate payments across all your bank accounts for a transaction you may need to make.
According to Simeon Ononobi, the founder of the platform, SimplePay is designed to help the customer worry less about payments “You just know that it is done.” Local cards like Mastercard, Visa, or Verve are charged 1.90 per cent plus N10 of whatever amount you are transferring.
Firstmonie
Firstmonie was created by First Bank of Nigeria to provide mobile online payment solutions to customers. The platform entrenches e-banking through the use of the mobile phone and to mitigate the challenges of banking services delivery to the vast unbanked market. The platform is so popular that as at August 2016, it has recorded over 2 million registered subscribers.
By dialling *894# Subscribers on any mobile network can access Firstmonie. Alternatively users can sign up online.
Quickteller
Owned by Interswitch, Quickteller is arguably the most popular online bill payment and money transfer platform in Nigeria.
Among its many features are the convenient of credit top up, payments to billers such as DSTV, NairaBet, GOtv etc. You can also transfer money to any account nationwide provided that your card was not issued by GTB. If you are a movie lover, Quicktellers also helps you avoid queuing at the cinema for a movie ticket.
Paystack
It is perhaps the most innovative of the platforms. With paystack consumers do not need to sign up. Once they have a Mastercard, Visa or Verve debit card, they can pay on paystack sites. Businesses however require a once-off signup that takes about a few seconds to complete. In order to integrate Paystack to start receiving on their site, merchants will need to fill the “go live” request form to upload their business details for verification. The whole set-up process is entirely free. Merchants are charged on a per transaction basis.
PayWithCapture
As a mobile payment solution, PayWithCapture allows end-users to make payment by scanning a merchant’s pre-generated QR-Code using the camera of their mobile or via a one-step Beacon-NFC System. The platform is easily linked with payments cards like Mastercard or Visa from any bank. It also encourages customers to select the type of payment instrument they prefer.
FRANK ELEANYA
