William Kaunda Head of Digital Finance Services

National Bank of Malawi has launched a new e-commerce product called ‘NBM Online Payment Gateway’.

William Kaunda Head of Digital Finance Services on Tuesday said the NBM Online Payment Gateway has been designed to complement the existing Point of Sale (POS) channel.

Kaunda explained the POS channel has one challenge; it mainly requires the physical presence of the cardholder.

“This requirement is a great inconvenience especially to the hospitality and tourism industries and more so during this time of pandemic lockdowns. Furthermore, this requirement presents a barrier to international trade.

NBM Online Payment Gateway product is in line with the Bank’s digitalisation strategy and will strengthen the relationship with merchants. This has a consequent effect of growing digital transaction volumes for our merchants which will result in high revenue generation for them.

He touted the NBM Online Payment Gateway as a product that addresses the service offering gap by allowing cardholders across the globe to transact from the comfort of their homes.

“Furthermore, the product has been introduced in response to the high demand for the service. We have had inquiries and requests mostly originating from the hospitality industry necessitating the provision of the service.”

How will it work?

Existing and potential merchants who want to subscribe to NBM Online Payment Gateway will have to get in touch with bank.

These are merchants that are looking at extending their physical presence to online and being able to receive payment right on their website or through their apps.

Once they get in touch, they will go through an on-boarding process that includes linking their online presence to the NBM Online Payment Gateway. Once that is completed, the merchant will be able to start receiving payments on their web/app presence.

Security

According to NBM its Online Payment Gateway is fully compliant with Europay Mastercard Visa (EMV) standards. Furthermore, it enforces 3D secure.

3-D Secure provides an additional layer of security prior to authorisation. For cardholders, it creates the trust they seek when shopping online.

The bank says it will constantly monitor and improve the security of the system so that stakeholders and customers are protected.