Posted on December 7, 2019

Q&A With iPay's MD Philip Nyamwaya on the Benefits of Online Payments in the Era of New Currency Notes in Kenya

By: iPay

Entrepreneurs have a myriad of issues they face from improving the competency of their products and services to ensuring that their payment processes are efficient to maximize the bottom line. iPay’s Managing Director, Mr. Philip Nyamwaya explains the benefits of using Online payment solutions especially after the Kenyan Government’s introduction of new currency notes in 2019.

Q1. The Kenya government has recently introduced new currency notes. How has this affected on-line and in-store payment in an era of fake or counterfeit currency notes circulating the market?

• The new currency has necessitated business owners who accept cash to upgrade their systems to accept the new notes. For instance: Car parking companies have had to invest in updating their machines so that the machines do not reject the new notes.

• iPay’s business payment solutions cushion you from such currency shocks and the consequent investment cost to comply with such currency changes.

Q2.  What exactly is iPay offering the market?   

• iPay is an easy-to-use global payment service that provides convenience to both merchants and their clients to securely complete digital payment transactions across multiple payment channels. This ensures online payments that are convenient, hustle-free and secure to all parties involved.

Q3.      What are the benefits of Merchants using the online payment solution?

• The iPay platform also offers a real-time instant settlement for the merchant and can work both in-store and/or online.

• By using iPay, merchants are able to track both incoming and outgoing payments using existing shopping cart software (https://ipayafrica.com/api). Some of the benefits include making payments to staff members or suppliers, paying utility bills or even buying airtime.

• In addition, iPay allows merchants to collect vital market intelligence from their target market so as to align their product and service offerings to the correct needs of the market.

Q4.      In this age of cyber hacking what measures have iPay put in place to increase online payment security?

• iPay conforms to the strictest international standards laid out by the Payments Card Industry – Data Security Standards (PCI-DSS) Standards.

• We also ensure that all transactions in our ecosystem are digitally signed and carry out end-to-end encryption of the data that is transmitted into our systems.

• In order to mitigate against the possibility of fraud, iPay carries out forensic tests on all transactions to ascertain the legitimacy of origin.

Q5.      How does iPay protect you from fake notes?

• Thankfully, if you are already accepting digital payments through iPay then the headache of verifying whether a note is fake or counterfeit is removed.

Following the introduction of new currency by The Government of Kenya, Merchants using iPay will not need to update any systems on their side to accept or recognize counter fake currency or fraud. This is because digital money is expected to be backed by the direct real value in bank accounts or regulated mobile wallets that store e-value such as mobile money. Thus, iPay’s business payment solutions cushion you from such currency shocks and the consequent investment cost to comply with such changes.

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