Payment method · pay-by-bank
Instant EFT
Instant EFT lets customers pay straight from their bank account, authenticated in their own banking environment, with the merchant notified in real time. With LekkaPay it is pay-by-bank in South Africa and Nigeria: live in SA through Ozow, and in Nigeria through NIBSS, the national interbank switch.
LAST UPDATED ·
- South Africa's second most popular way to pay online, after cards
- #2
- South African online payments industry reporting, 2025
- countries live: South Africa via Ozow, Nigeria via NIBSS
- 2
- card details shared at checkout - customers authenticate in their own banking app
- 0
Why it matters
Half your customers want another way to pay.
Debit and credit cards account for roughly half of South African online transactions (Statista), which means the other half of your checkout traffic needs an alternative. Pay-by-bank is the biggest of those alternatives: trusted, familiar, and authenticated by the customer's own bank. Merchants offering three or more payment methods see up to 25% higher checkout conversion in industry benchmarks.
- Bank-grade trust Customers approve the payment inside their own banking environment. No card details ever touch your checkout.
- Real-time confirmation You know the payment is good the moment it happens. No waiting for a proof-of-payment email.
- Two countries, one API South African banks through Ozow, Nigerian banks through NIBSS. The same integration serves both.
How it works
How does Instant EFT work with LekkaPay?
-
Customer chooses pay-by-bank
Instant EFT appears alongside cards and wallets in your LekkaPay checkout.
-
They approve in their bank
The customer selects their bank and authenticates in their own banking app or internet banking - all major South African banks are covered through Ozow.
-
You get paid, instantly confirmed
LekkaPay notifies your store in real time and the order completes. Settlement and reconciliation run through the same back office as every other method.
Pay-by-bank in two countries
LekkaPay's pay-by-bank coverage is deliberately a two-country story. South Africa runs on Ozow, whose coverage spans all major South African banks - their bank list is maintained at ozow.com. Nigeria runs on NIBSS, the inter-bank settlement backbone that Nigerian banks clear through. Cross-border merchants search for exactly this combination, and it is rare: if your customers span Johannesburg and Lagos, one LekkaPay integration reaches both sets of bank accounts.
Where Instant EFT fits in your method mix
Instant EFT is the natural companion to card acceptance rather than a replacement. Cards win on stored-credential convenience and recurring billing; instant EFT wins with bank-trusting customers, higher-value payments where card limits bite, and any purchase where chargeback risk matters to you. Merchants running both typically see instant EFT take a substantial share of volume within weeks - customers self-select the method they trust.
FAQ
Instant EFT questions, answered.
What is Instant EFT?
Instant EFT (also called pay-by-bank) is an online payment where the customer pays directly from their bank account, authenticating inside their own banking app or internet banking, with the merchant receiving real-time confirmation instead of waiting for a manual transfer to reflect.
Which banks can my customers pay from?
In South Africa, all major banks are covered through our partner Ozow. In Nigeria, pay-by-bank runs through NIBSS, the national interbank switch, covering NIBSS-connected banks.
Is Instant EFT safe?
Yes. The customer authenticates with their own bank using the bank's own security, and no card details are entered at checkout, which removes the card-skimming and card-fraud surface entirely for these payments.
How fast do I get the money?
Confirmation is real time: your store knows immediately that the payment succeeded. Funds then settle to your account on your agreed settlement schedule, with full reporting in the LekkaPay back office.
Do Instant EFT payments have chargebacks?
There is no card-style chargeback mechanism on pay-by-bank, because the customer pushes the payment from their own account. Refunds are handled directly through LekkaPay when you need to return funds.
Method mix
Pairs well with Instant EFT
Add Instant EFT to your checkout.
Every way Africa pays, on one integration - add methods without new development.