eBusiness Weekly
Enacy Mapakame
HARARE – Global e-payment enabler, VISA says it has come up with new innovations to tackle fraud and enhance security for its market.
In an interview with Business Weekly, VISA general manager for Southern Africa Jabu Basopo said the issue of security and card fraud was a concern and as such the organisation will continue to invest in infrastructure and services that ensure the market is secure.
He however highlighted that VISA had managed to tame fraud, keeping it at below 5 percent in Zimbabwe as well as the rest of the region and was working at further reducing the number to zero.
“The market needs to feel safe when transacting and we will always ensure their security is guaranteed,” he said in an interview in the capital.
“One way we have come up with to deal with security issues is the introduction of Tokenisation. This ensures that when you transact you only expose card details to that specific transaction alone.
“So when you transact a token is generated in the background and that is what is sent. If someone steals that they are exposed to just that single transaction as opposed to exposing all your credentials,” he said.
In addition to this, the firm has also come up with a contactless transaction, already launched in other markets like South Africa.
With this technology, customers do not need to input any details like pin numbers for instance, but just “tap and go.”
“Three weeks ago we introduced the Tap to Pay with Gautrain in South Africa at Oliver Tambo International Airport.
“If you want to catch a train after your flight, there is no need to buy a ticket but just use your VISA card to tap and you are good to go. This is like in the UK, when you want to use train service or bus you just Tap to Pay. The idea is to enhance security and efficiency,” said Basopo.
Individual banks may however choose to cap the value of transactions to protect their clients.
He said: “So you may find some banks will put a limit at the mount you can transact, say anything above $200 then you should input your pin.
“But at VISA, we are trying to bring that convenience clients want, instead of people doing spending 10 minutes to do a transaction, you can complete in seconds.”
Basopo however indicated usage of VISA by the Zimbabwe market has been on the decline although the fintech group still sees growth opportunities in the country especially in the tourism sector.
He said while volumes of transactions had gone down, the functionalities of the VISA cards were still the same.
The country has been experiencing foreign currency shortages which have limited transactions done outside the country or online purchases using VISA.
Banks now require customers to first deposit the foreign currency in their VISA debit cards for use outside the country and for online payments.
The same challenge is being experienced in regional counterparts such as Angola due to fluctuating oil prices.
Basopo however said, Zimbabwe still has potential to be a good investment area for the fintech group.
“Visa is committed to the Zimbabwe market and will continue to invest in the country,” he said.
