The Stitch team.

Start-ups Stitch, a payments infrastructure company, and Ozow have teamed with Absa Bank to launch Absa Pay for enterprise merchants in South Africa.

Under the partnership with Stitch, the fintech firm will offer direct bank application programming interfaces (APIs), including Absa Pay, Capitec Pay and Nedbank Direct API, as part of its broader “pay by bank” solution.

With this addition, Absa consumers will be able to make payments directly from their Absa account to any Stitch merchant that accepts Absa Pay.

According to Stitch, pay by bank is the fastest-growing payment method in South Africa, with consumers increasingly demanding a seamless experience, speed, and security.

Absa is the latest major bank in South Africa to release a direct API, allowing Absa customers to make bank payments directly from their Absa account to that of online merchants they wish to pay, securely – without the need to enter their banking details online.

By integrating Ozow's platform with Absa Pay, both companies say they aim to improve the digital payments ecosystem. They say this alliance is facilitated through South Africa's proprietary open banking-payments interface, reflecting a significant shift in how South Africans interact with their banks and conduct transactions.

Absa explains that the API is a software intermediary that enables the customer’s bank and the merchant site to communicate with each other directly and more securely to prevent potential fraud.

“We are excited to introduce this payment solution to approximately three million digitally-active customers,” said Subash Sharma, chief digital officer at Absa Everyday Bankin

He added: “We are incredibly proud to collaborate with leading payment fintech companies, using open banking technology to create a seamless and safe online banking experience. These collaborations are important to maintain a fully-secure ecosystem for our customers and partners. But we advise customers to maintain vigilance and safeguard their digital banking ‘keys to the safe’ – a PIN and password should not be shared with third-party sites.”

Stitch president Junaid Dadan, commented: "As infrastructure players, we're thrilled to collaborate with Absa as part of our aim to ensure that our clients always have access to the most recent payment methods and innovations, such as Absa Pay. This will continue to attract more consumers to the digital economy and give them more options for making payments."

Coenie Louw, Ozow’s head of technical operations, said: "We are thrilled to partner with Absa to launch the Absa Pay, a revolutionary payment solution that harnesses the potential of open banking to offer our merchants and their consumers a fast, secure and convenient way to pay online.

"This is a milestone in our mission to provide innovative and inclusive financial solutions that meet the changing needs of our merchants. We look forward to collaborating with Absa to promote the adoption of the Absa Pay and improve the digital payments landscape in South Africa."