Pay on the go for Mango

By Staff Writer for FNB
Johannesburg, 31 Jul 2008

Low-cost SAA subsidiary Mango has teamed with First National Bank (FNB) to offer flyers the option to buy and pay for plane tickets by way of their mobile phone.

The companies say credit cards are currently "one of the most preferred methods" to make online payments, but many travellers do not have these.

FNB Mobile and Transact Solutions CEO Len Pienaar says the mobile phone payment option adopted by Mango is a secure online alternative with no need to disclose any personal banking details during any stage of the transactions as it is the case with credit card-type online transactions.

"Personal details, such as banking details, are not entered online and the fraud risk is greatly reduced, as the transaction is approved by entering your Cellphone Banking MoPIN number on your phone and not online. Payment is immediately debited from the customer's account and the transaction is referenced for easy reconciliations," says Pienaar.

There is no bank charge, but the customer must be a registered FNB Cellphone Banking user.

The Mango-FNB tie-up, therefore, "not only offers banking customers and airline passengers convenient payment and booking channels, but it also lowers access barriers to online shopping for millions of people who are yet to perform their first online payment transaction," Pienaar says.

"Mango is our largest merchant to sign up for our Cell Pay Point offering and our first airline, giving our mobile online payment solution a significant shot in the arm, having grown by more than 400% month-on-month since March this year," adds Pienaar.

Cell Pay Point is a "real time payment solution with real time payment confirmation for online purchases available to all FNB customers registered for cellphone banking."

How it works

Customers visiting www.flymango.com to make bookings can select FNB Cell Pay Point as a payment option. They will then be alerted online to enter a dial stream on their cellphone.

The customer will then have to confirm their purchase with Mango by entering their MoPIN on their cellphone and confirming the transaction.

Finally, an SMS will be sent to the customer confirming that payment has been processed showing the amount debited from the customers account and a unique reference number for the transaction.