WINDHOEK – Bank Windhoek says their clients are increasingly using Visa debit cards rather than cash to make payments for daily purchases as it is a much safer and convenient means of paying.
All commercial banks offer card services and at Bank Windhoek clients are offered Visa Electron and Visa Debit cards that are linked to a transaction or cheque account. Clients can then make debit card purchases by using any Point-of-Sale (POS) device at merchants across the country. A POS device, also known as a swipe machine, is the electronic machine found at retail outlets used to make payments using a debit or credit card instead of cash.
The Bank Windhoek POS devices also accept all Visa and MasterCard branded cards whether local or international including the Nam-mic CellCard. Bank Windhoek introduced its own POS devices in February 2009 after it replaced the old ABSA branded retail devices, following the move from Saswitch to Namswitch.
Namswitch is Namibia’s card transaction system, which replaced the South African system, Saswitch, to allow for card transactions to reduce and control risks at domestic level, as well as reduce card transactional costs.
“It is no surprise that more clients are using their debit cards more frequently, as card payments remain one of the most convenient and safest payment methods around. Bank Windhoek’s Point-of-Sale devices are one of the most effective POS devices on the market with very high sales volumes and minimal transactional and technical problems and our extensive network of POS devices across Namibia makes it very accessible”, said Ryan Geyser, Senior Manager of Product/Channel Development and E-Channel Processing at Bank Windhoek.
Clients are nevertheless urged to treat their card as cash and never to let their card out of their sight when making a payment at a merchant.
By Staff Reporter