Johannesburg - First National Bank (FNB) executives are expected to convene a fiery meeting on Monday morning following leaks on messaging system, Twitter, that it was bringing Paypal to South Africa by April.
Twitter was abuzz with speculation on Sunday that PayPal would finally be gracing South Africa's shores later this year.
PayPal is a service aimed at facilitating secure online trade and is viewed as a vital step in seeing South African web offerings become a bigger part of the global economy.
The technology allows users to shop online without revealing their credit card details. This ensures a more secure platform for online transacting and will be a step forward in promoting online trade for South African businesses.
Importantly, the service would make it easier for local retailers to receive payments from overseas customers. The technology has to date received a lukewarm reception from the South African Reserve Bank which is concerned it flaunts foreign exchange regulations.
Asked whether it would be a positive for South African technology entrepreneurs, local venture capital expert Vinny Lingham said: "Without a doubt." It would further assist in securing online payment processing, he said.
FNB declined to comment, but Fin24.com has learned the project to introduce Paypal is advanced.
Although sources said the Twitter leaks were part of a calculated public relations exercise, FNB executives are furious news of the project broke.
Media and technology analyst Saul Kropman said in a Twitter post it would be interesting to see how the costs of using Paypal shaped up largely because only one bank appeared to be rolling out the product.
FNB has aggressively targeted the small business sector with several technology-driven solutions, including its Instant Accounting offering. Securing PayPal would be another feather in its cap, said Twitter users who added it would provide them access to an invaluable platform for their business.
Ironically, for a country that doesn't have PayPal, the technology was developed by South African Elon Musk who matriculated from Pretoria Boys High School in 1988.
He is now CEO of US technology company (Space Exploration Technologies) SpaceX which develops technology for high-profile clients, including US space agency NASA.
- Fin24.com