PayShap is South Africa's real-time payment rail, run by PayInc since March 2023. People pay with a phone number or ShapID; merchants can send requests.

What is PayShap?

Short answer

PayShap is South Africa's real-time payment rail, run by PayInc (formerly BankservAfrica) since March 2023. People pay using a phone number or ShapID, and merchants can send PayShap Requests. Volumes passed 45 million transactions a month in October 2025.

In detail

PayShap is South Africa's real-time payment rail, run by PayInc, formerly BankservAfrica. It launched in March 2023 and lets people pay instantly between banks using a phone number or a ShapID, a proxy for their account, instead of full account details.

Growth

Volumes grew from 5 to 6 million transactions a month in late 2024 to over 45 million in October 2025, and 80% of payments are under R500. That profile points to everyday payments between people and to small merchants.

PayShap Request

Since December 2024, PayShap Request lets merchants push a payment request to a shopper's ShapID. The shopper approves it in their banking app, and the money arrives instantly. This turns PayShap into a checkout option, next to Capitec Pay and Instant EFT.

Context

EFT credits remain the workhorse of the national payment system, with 1.13 billion transactions in 2024, and DebiCheck handles recurring collections. PayShap adds the instant layer.

What it means for payment operators

For operators serving South African merchants, PayShap Request is a low-cost, card-free option for small and medium tickets. Adding it through a local provider and matching each instant payment to its order keeps reconciliation automatic.

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