Spot Money launches Open Banking offering

The move follows the 2020 acquisition of the Virgin Money South Africa business by a South African private equity firm, in partnership with the local executive management team.

Central to the rebrand of the company is the launch of the latest version of the Spot app.

While Spot is bank neutral and will partner with a range of financial services providers, it is anchored by the banking industry and functions in association with Bidvest Bank.

The new Spot app has been developed using Mastercard’s technology, allowing Spot to issue physical and virtual Mastercard prepaid debit cards. Users can then transact at any retail location that accepts Mastercard.

The Spot app provides an intuitive mobile transactional account with no monthly account fees. The app will also enable direct contactless mobile phone payments, aligned with the world’s growing adoption of contactless transactions. Customers will be able to order, within the app, a physical Spot prepaid debit card which is tap-to-pay enabled for contactless payments.

Spot also features Mastercard’s Scan to Pay functionality, which enables users to scan any Masterpass-enabled QR code in South Africa for the purchasing of goods and services. Spot is the only app that gives customers the ability to Scan to Pay all of the major QR code payment types – Masterpass, SnapScan, wiCode and Zapper.