Apple Pay launches in South Africa – but which banks are available?

*Note: This article was updated on 12 August 2021 with the banks that currently support Apple Pay in South Africa.

Contactless payment solution Apple Pay is now officially available in South Africa, however only three local banks supported the service at launch.

The service allows customers to use their Apple Wallet to complete purchases using their Apple devices. This includes payments using an iPhone or Apple Watch.

It works with card machines that support NFC chips or that have an Apple icon. Meanwhile, access to your Wallet is secured with Face ID or Touch ID.

You can also use the service while shopping online.

“We are really excited to have Apple Pay available in-store nationwide from today to offer our customers this quick and secure way to pay,” iStore CEO Chris Dodd says.

“There is a simple setup process in your Apple Wallet and then Apple Pay will make contactless purchases easy and give our customers another great option to pay for their products at iStore.”

Which banks support Apple Pay in South Africa?

While the service is now available for Apple users nationwide in South Africa, only certain banks support it.

At launch, only Absa, Discovery Bank, and Nedbank supported the payment solution.

*Update: As of 12 August, Apple Pay now supports Absa, Discovery, FNB, Rand Merchant Bank, Investec, and Nedbank in South Africa.

Customers from these banks can add eligible Visa, Mastercard, and American Express credit, debit, or pre-paid cards to their Apple Wallet.

However, Apple notes that some banks may not support all card types.

You can find out more about the service on the Apple Pay website.

Contactless payment solutions have especially risen in popularity during the pandemic, with multiple companies launching their own solutions.

Telkom, Huawei, and Ozow have also launched payment solutions and apps in the past few months.

Feature image: Discovery Bank

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