Palo Alto, California, June 2025 - FutureBank and Pay@, one of South Africa’s leading payment solution providers, have announced the enablement of Pay@’s advanced bill payments platform with FutureBank’s open banking and embedded finance solution. The partnership will simplify bill payment aggregation for banks, especially community banks, regional banks, and credit unions, and is available through a single integration.
The collaboration addresses critical challenges in the current payment ecosystem, providing a comprehensive approach that reduces fraud, streamlines user experience and transaction processing, and creates new revenue opportunities for financial institutions. The move is particularly timely as the days of the check are numbered in the US. Digitisation of bill payments is happening at pace and, like elsewhere in the world, banks are best placed to take advantage of this market move.
A fragmented and unwieldy bill-paying environment
According to Datos, U.S. consumers spend more than US$5.6 trillion paying around 16.8 billion bills per year. Of these payments, more than 10.6 billion (63%) are paid online via a biller, bank, or third-party website. In addition, Americans still write close to 1.9 billion checks, provide their debit card information to pay nearly 3.2 billion bills, and use their credit card information to pay another 2.8 billion bills.
While checks still remain a favourite of the U.S. consumer, the U.S. administration has announced that, from 30 September, the Treasury will stop issuing paper checks for all Federal disbursements as it begins to phase out the use of paper checks and centralise payment processing in an effort to crack down on fraud.
The current ecosystem does not make paying bills easy. Even when U.S. consumers pay bills through their banks via the Automatic Clearing House (ACH), it requires them to set up new beneficiaries for each account, making for a frustrating and time consuming process.
While solutions such as FedNow and the Clearing House's RTP network enable instant bill payments, their actual usage for bill payments is not yet mainstream, and current adoption depends on both consumer banks and billers joining the network.
Similarly, the various card schemes may offer bill payment as a value added service, but this restricts payment via credit card, limiting consumer options.
"Our partnership with Pay@ is a strategic solution that will fundamentally reshape how banks, businesses and consumers approach bill presentment and payments," says Pieter de Wet, business development lead at FutureBank. "By combining Pay@’s already highly referenceable bill presentment capabilities, real-time payment flow, robust APIs, and biller-friendly web interface with FutureBank’s seamless integrations and fintech ecosystem, banks can unlock a powerful solution that will enable safe and fast bill payment that will delight consumers and add real business benefit for banks of all sizes.”
A simplified solution that benefits all players
The partnership tackles multiple pain points in the current payment landscape. In markets like the United States, where checks still dominate 60% of payment flows, as well as South Africa's complex billing environment, the solution offers a standardized, digital alternative that increases brand loyalty, customer satisfaction, reduces administrative complexity and minimizes fraud risks.
This brings immediate and meaningful benefits for all involved, including:
Customer Experience:
The solution gives end-users some welcome additional convenience and security. Pay@ allows customers to verify bill details instantly, receive real-time notifications, and complete payments across multiple banking channels, including banking apps, ATMs, and point-of-sale devices. Integrated with FutureBank’s unified customer data view and account management tools, this creates a cohesive digital banking experience. Customers can effortlessly manage bills alongside transfers or card services, boosting satisfaction and reinforcing the bank as their go-to financial hub.
Key Benefits for Businesses:
Pay@ brings a 99.9985% accurate collection rate, eliminating manual reconciliation and reducing operational costs. Businesses benefit from real-time payment notifications, instant bill verification, and a significant reduction in fraudulent activities. Telecommunications companies, insurance providers, and utility services will particularly benefit from the system's ability to provide immediate service activation upon payment.
Fraud Prevention:
With the latest monitoring technologies, the partnership offers unprecedented protection against emerging fraud trends. The system prevents fake payment proofs, reduces stolen card transactions, and provides instant, traceable payment verification. This approach not only protects businesses but also builds consumer trust in digital payment systems.
Revenue Opportunities for Banks:
Financial institutions can now monetize bill payment services by offering this advanced solution as a premium feature. Smaller and second-tier banks, often marginalized in complex payment ecosystems, can also now compete effectively by providing value-added services without significant infrastructure investments. With data from bill payments, banks can also cross-sell tailored products such as business loans for corporate billers or budgeting tools for retail customers. Billers benefit from Pay@’s real-time flow, which speeds up collections, and its APIs, which simplify integration, making the bank’s offering attractive and profitable.
International Market Potential:
While already available in South African markets, the partnership aims to address payment inefficiencies in fragmented international markets. By working with major banking, telco, and retailer brands like Massmart (Walmart), Visa, MasterCard, Capitec, FNB, Nedbank, TymeBank, and Vodacom in South Africa, Pay@ has already demonstrated its ability to transform payment systems globally.
"We're looking to help banks solve complex bill payment challenges, particularly for second-tier banks struggling to serve their local communities effectively." says Clinton Leask, Head of Product at Pay@ “The partnership brings together Pay@'s impressive track record, which includes integrations with major multinational banks, telecommunications providers, and global payment networks, with FutureBank's international market expertise and technical prowess. We're not just solving a payment problem; we're creating a more transparent, secure, and efficient financial ecosystem."
Looking ahead, de Wet says the collaboration opens clear pathways for expansion into new territories, with a focus on providing standardized, secure payment solutions that transcend current market limitations.
About FutureBank
FutureBank is a scalable, secure, customisable and compliant Embedded Finance platform, and fintech marketplace that helps banks, brands and fintechs deploy new banking and financial service products at scale with minimal cost and effort. Its simplified integration technology and partner network enable customers to directly embed best of breed offerings in any CX or core system to get to market faster than anybody else. FutureBank reduces integration costs by up to 85%, supports up to 80% of customer-facing functionality off-the-shelf, and integrates with 96% of core banking infrastructure today (including FIS, 10x Banking, and Mambu).
About Pay@
Pay@ is a leading payments service provider enabling bill payments at retailers, mobile point-of-sale, banking, telco, card scheme, voucher, and fintech channels in Southern Africa. Since its launch in 2007, Pay@ has grown its reach across Southern Africa and now serves international markets. The company empowers the entire payment ecosystem by allowing consumers to use any payment method of their choice, enabling billers to optimize cash flow, and generating new revenue opportunities for banking partners. With a steadfast commitment to excellence, innovation, and customer satisfaction, Pay@ continues to drive advancements in the payments industry - delivering secure, seamless, and accessible transaction experiences for all.
