Standard Bank Ltd. has launched a contactless debit card to tap into South Africa’s transit-payments market, the bank announced May 17.
The institution's business-development unit and the bank-sponsored innovation development center Beyond Payments jointly have rolled out the Muvo Card, a Beyond Payments spokesperson tells PaymentsSource.
The dual-function card contains a chip for both transit and retail purchases supported by MasterCard’s PayPass contactless-payment service. A pilot for the card is now under way, the spokesperson says.
The Department of Transport first will deploy the card in a municipality in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, where commuters would use it to pay bus fares, the spokesperson adds.
“An initial lot of 1,000 commuters using the People Mover bus service will use the card,” he says. “They will load credits onto their Muvo card at kiosks, and then tap the card against a card reader upon boarding a bus to pay for their ride.”
If the pilot is successful, the bank will roll out the card to the rest of the municipality region’s 55,0000 commuters.
The number of merchants accepting PayPass was not disclosed, but the spokesperson says that talks with retailer associations are ongoing.
What do you think about this? Send us your feedback.
