Absa Business Bank Prepaid Cards to assist Census workers

The reloadable pre paid cards, called the Capital Money Card, will be used to disburse Census employees’ wages and salaries. Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has already indicated that Census will be held in October 2011.

The Census employees’ payments will be made onto the cards via ABB’s Business Integrator Card Online which is a web-based solution, enabling Absa’s business clients to issue and activate the Prepaid Cards.

The Card Online system enables funds to be transferred to a co-branded Prepaid Card to make simple payments for temporary wages, commissions, claims and incentives, thereby reducing the risk of paying by cash or cheque.  The recipient or end user of the card uses the card normally at a point-of-sale or an ATM.

Capital Software’s client, KTS Technology Solutions (Pty) Ltd, a black owned medium-sized company based in Midrand, was awarded the Census 2011 Payment Method tender by Stats SA earlier this year to provide an integrated IT solution for the salary payments of fieldworkers for Census 2011.

Capital Software, an Absa Business Bank client for more than 40 years, approached Absa at the end of June expressing the need for the bank to partner on the Stats SA card project.

“We agreed to use Capital Software as a pilot customer to test the co-branded reloadable Prepaid Card. The pilot programme from 1 March to 30 May was successful and the Capital Money Card with Stats SA will now run from 1 September to 15 October 2011,” says Bobby Malabie, Chief Executive of Absa Business Bank.

Malabie notes that customers are always seeking a seamless and efficient means of paying beneficiaries, claimants, employees or third parties.

“The alternative payment mechanisms will lessen the risk of cash handling and cheque fraud. They will also make payments to third parties who do not have traditional bank accounts via a card more easily.”

Capital Software managing director, Jacques de Wet, says that the company has a comprehensive card deployment and logistics plan in place to manage the physical roll-out of the Prepaid Card programme to the Statistics SA field workers.

Approximately 200 000 field workers employed in this Census year alone will make use of the Capital Money Card.

“Unlike a traditional payroll card project, this project involves mass distribution in multiple locations in a very short space of time.

“In order for KTS and Capital Software to deliver such a solution in the required timeframe, a skilled project management team has been sourced to manage the card ordering, card delivery, national HR recruitment of card issuers/trainers and the payment processing of the Stats SA treasury to the prepaid cardholders,” De Wet says.

Absa Business Bank, in partnership with Absa Card, is committed to providing innovative payment solutions to the market.  This solution broadens the range of payment offerings in the corporate sector such as making payment simpler, both in the lives of the consumer and the corporate.

The advantages for companies to have the co-branded reloadable Prepaid Cards are numerous and these include:

• The card can be ordered and issued remotely, thus lessening the need to go into a branch.
• There is no need to visit an Absa branch to open an account in order to receive ongoing payments.
• It improves cash flow management.
• The product is a new payment solution that will enable ABB customers to issue cards and process payments electronically.
• Cardholders have access to their funds 24/7 via ATM’s and POS devises.
• No late wage/salary payments.