David Marcus, president at PayPal, and William Ready, co-CEO at Braintree. Image courtesy of PayPal.
The number of PayPal accounts opened in South Africa has topped one million, the payments gateway announced today.
Launched in South Africa in partnership with First National Bank (FNB) four years ago, PayPal said the service opened the opportunities of online commerce to individuals and businesses in the country.
“Online commerce creates a world of opportunities for buyers and sellers, but entering card details on an overseas website or accepting a payment from someone overseas can be concerning,” said Malvina Goldfeld of PayPal.
“What PayPal represents is trust, which is why we process over nine million payments every day, including 2.4 million international payments,” Goldfeld said.
“One million accounts is an extremely significant milestone for both PayPal and FNB,” said Erna Vakis, general manager for complementary online services at FNB.
The partnership with FNB means that users can withdraw or top up their PayPal wallet via their FNB bank account.
PayPal highlighted its role in helping businesses in South Africa accept payments online, with Netflorist, Mr. Price and Singita included in the one million accounts opened in the country.
“E-commerce forces you to think globally,” said Ryan Bacher, managing director and founder of Netflorist.
“With a high-quality, reputable brand, your potential customers are not only those in your home country. Many South Africans now living overseas use our website to send flowers to family back home for example,” Bacher said.
“As a globally recognized and accepted brand, the PayPal payment option makes people feel more secure when making their final payment.”
PayPal said there are 152 million active accounts using its service, across 203 markets worldwide.
HumanIPO reported in June, PayPal launched in Nigeria and Zimbabwe, enabling account holders to send money, although local merchants can not yet receive money, and peer-to-peer transactions have not yet been enabled either.
