Collaboration Facilitates E-Commerce Across Africa – Gadget

BankservAfrica and UnionPay International (UPI) are collaborating to enable UPI e-commerce acceptance in several African countries. This builds on UPI’s appointment in December 2023 of BankservAfrica as the national land-based processor for affordable, accessible and innovative card payments for South Africa.

“As the largest automated payments clearing house in Africa, responsible for clearing and processing billions of low-value card, ATM and account-to-account transactions per year, BankservAfrica is ideally positioned to serve Africa’s growing e-commerce market regionally and internationally,” says Stephen Linnell, CEO of BankservAfrica.

UnionPay operates in 50 African countries, and this agreement will further expand its growing network, which covers 183 countries worldwide. The organization cites the 2023 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in stating that this development, which supports the internet economy, has the potential to add $180 billion to the continent’s gross domestic product.

Asad Burney, Head of UnionPay International Africa, says: “African markets have always been key and valued by UnionPay. The new e-commerce acceptance project offers huge opportunities for existing UnionPay cardholders, providing African merchants with expanded exposure to a global audience.”

UPI and BankservAfrica are pursuing this strategic partnership to place organizations on the front lines of the accelerating growth of e-commerce across the continent. The International Trade Administration estimates that this rapid expansion will result in about 500 million people using e-commerce for everyday transactions by 2025.

Linnell says: “As the continent’s hyper-connected economy grows, BankservAfrica will continue to provide sustainable payment services for a digitally transformative future. We are excited about this partnership and its potential to promote digital commerce that drives economic development and facilitates everyday online payments.”