In alignment with global trends, virtual bank cards are set to take businesses in South Africa across a new digital frontier, improving banking safety parameters while offering convenient payment experience.
Lauren Deva, Pillar Head for Commercial Transactional Pillar at FNB Commercial says the move towards virtual cards in South Africa is an essential one for the digital transformation journey of businesses. Moreover, it coincides with the phasing out of cheques, which are no longer accepted as a valid payment method.
“There has been an overwhelming response to our Virtual Card offering, from both individual and business customers, with approximately over 200 000 cards activated since January this year. A key security feature on the Virtual Card is the dynamic Card Verification Value (CVV) security number that changes every hour to help minimise the risk of fraud. Our business clients have the flexibility to create multiple Virtual Cards and the expiry period is longer than that of a physical card. Furthermore, the Virtual Card can be uploaded and used on various online subscription platforms such as Microsoft for seamless, safe payments,” adds Deva.
She unpacks eight key benefits of Virtual Cards for businesses:
- Businesses can easily make business-to-business purchases
- The virtual card has a CVV that updates hourly
- Reduces the risk of online fraud as the verification data changes hourly
- Since the virtual card is saved within your banking app, it’s impossible for it to be lost
- A convenient payment method for business travel or expenses
- Business cardholders can track and approve spending
- Virtual cards can be frozen or cancelled at any time from the banking app, and you can activate a new virtual card within the app at the touch of a button
- Businesses can load their virtual cards on trusted websites or apps for convenient purchases
“As technology evolves in different aspects of your business, your banking too should evolve so that your business can reap the benefits of increased convenience, reduced costs and efficient banking. The virtual bank card is just one more layer in that constant evolution,” Deva concludes.
For more information read here.