"Pay by bank fastest-growing payment method in South Africa"

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To this end, Stitch will offer all available direct bank APIs, including Absa Pay, Capitec Pay and Nedbank Direct API, as part of its broader pay-by-bank solution.

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

Pay by bank is one of the fastest-growing payment methods in South Africa, according to Stitch president, Junaid Dadan, with rising demand from consumers due to its seamless experience, speed and security.

Absa is the latest 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.

"It’s exciting to see the continued growth of innovation in South Africa’s banking ecosystem, as Absa brings its API to the market. As infrastructure players, we’re excited to partner with Absa as part of our mission to ensure our clients always have access to the latest payment methods and advancements, such as Absa Pay.

"This will continue to bring more consumers into the digital economy and give them more choice in how they want to make a payment," said Dadan.

Stitch enables businesses to access bank APIs like Absa Pay without the need for a direct bank integration. Existing Stitch clients will be able to add Absa Pay to their existing integrations without the need for any deep development work.

New Stitch customers can easily combine Absa Pay with any other payment methods, such as pay by bank, card, manual EFT and cash, via a single integration. They’ll also be able to easily reconcile all payments across methods through the Stitch dashboard.

Stitch launched in February 2021. The firm has raised a total of $52m in funding from leading global and local investors and angels, including Ribbit Capital, PayPal Ventures, TrueLayer, firstminute capital, The Raba Partnership, CRE Venture Capital, Village Global and more.