The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) says it will implement the AC\/DebiCheck payment system from 1 May as part of its modernisation efforts.<\/p>\n
The SARB said this project aims to address the increasing levels of abuse in the debit order payment system, known commercially as the early debit order (EDO) payment system.<\/p>\n
“From 1 May 2021, all new and renegotiated EDO mandates will be originated in the AC\/DebiCheck payment system and not in the current EDO payment system,” it said.<\/p>\n
“Early debit orders will only be processed through the AC\/DebiCheck payment system, while normal debit orders will still be processed later in the day as per current arrangements.”<\/p>\n
How it works<\/strong><\/p>\n Under the EDO system, consumers provide a mandate to a company or user to collect money from their bank account.<\/p>\n In the new AC\/DebiCheck payment system, this mandate is now given to the banks – where consumers provide authorisation to their bank to release the funds from their account when a debit order is submitted by a company or user from whom they bought goods or contracted for a service.<\/p>\n The AC\/DebiCheck payment system was first implemented on 1 August 2018, and has been going through various stages and processes of testing and integration.<\/p>\n Companies or users of the EDO system had until 1 November 2019 to fully implement the AC\/DebiCheck payment system. Since the implementation date, companies or users have been requested to begin using the system for all EDO collections.<\/p>\n “Owing to the complex nature of the AC\/DebiCheck system, a lengthy ramp-up period was required to ensure that all stakeholders in the EDO collections ecosystem had implemented and tested their internal processes and interfaces to the AC\/DebiCheck payment system,” the SARB said.<\/p>\n The central bank added said that the AC\/DebiCheck project is an initiative of the collections industry that ensures the safety and efficiency of the NPS, and the mitigation of rogue and fraudulent behavior in the collections system.<\/p>\n
\n