South African shoppers can now approve an online card payment with a fingerprint or a face scan, skipping the redirect to their bank and the one-time PIN that slows the process down. Walletdoc has started rolling out Visa Payment Passkeys to local merchants.
The payments company brings card and EFT acceptance together under one roof, online and in store. Its range runs from online and in-app payments, payment links and QR codes to PayShap Request to Pay, mobile card machines and instant payouts around the clock, serving businesses of every size.
A passkey replaces the password and OTP sequence with a biometric check held on the shopper's own device. The credential that authorises the payment stays on that phone, and the approval happens in one tap rather than across two screens and a wait.
For merchants, the pitch is conversion alongside security. Walletdoc frames the rollout as a way to cut fraud and close more sales, with checkout finishing on the device the shopper is already holding.
"At Walletdoc we believe payments should be simple, secure and effortless for the customer. By bringing Visa Payment Passkeys to South African shoppers, we're once again at the forefront of how the country pays online, giving shoppers the security of biometrics with the simplicity of a single tap, and giving our merchants a proven way to reduce fraud while converting more sales. This is the future of checkout, now available to our customers," said Dan Wagner, joint-CEO of Walletdoc.
The launch continues a run of first-to-market moves that the company has used to build its position in local payments.
