--- title: The payment ring winning over South Africa’s banks description: VezoPay, a South African maker of battery-free NFC payment rings, has quietly gone live with Investec and Absa, bringing its bank partner count to four, with a... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-payment-ring-winning-over-south-africa-s-banks-udfmnamml twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The payment ring winning over South Africa’s banks | daily.dev og:description: VezoPay, a South African maker of battery-free NFC payment rings, has quietly gone live with Investec and Absa, bringing its bank partner count to four, with a... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-payment-ring-winning-over-south-africa-s-banks-udfmnamml og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/UdFmNAMmL.png og:image:alt: The payment ring winning over South Africa’s banks og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The payment ring winning over South Africa’s banks **[TechCentral](https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary VezoPay, a South African maker of battery-free NFC payment rings, has quietly gone live with Investec and Absa, bringing its bank partner count to four, with a fifth major retail bank expected before the end of 2026. FNB and RMB Private Bank launched last October, and the company has a 35,000-person waiting list. Bank onboarding, not manufacturing, is the growth bottleneck — approvals plus South African Reserve Bank sign-off take four to nine months per institution, with requirements tightening over time. The product line has been simplified to three ring families (X, Classic, Signature), rose gold has been discontinued, and the gold ring redesigned. Cards are tokenized rather than stored on the device, inheriting the issuer's fraud controls. The company has broadened its investor base and is piloting in Mauritius and other African markets via Visa and Mastercard relationships. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does the VezoPay smart payment ring handle card security since it has no battery? The ring carries a programmable, battery-free NFC chip and never stores payment credentials directly. Linking a bank card writes a one-time token to the ring, the same tokenization method used by phone wallets, and only one card can be tokenized at a time. Because the token sits on the card rails, the ring inherits the issuing bank's fraud controls, including location and velocity checks and a PIN prompt above R500 or at unfamiliar merchants. _Anyone evaluating tokenized wearable payments can track how issuers implement this on daily.dev._ ### Why is it taking banks so long to approve smart payment ring products like VezoPay in South Africa? Bank onboarding, not manufacturing or technology, is the main constraint on VezoPay's growth. Each bank runs its own internal governance and approval process before a separate South African Reserve Bank sign-off; FNB's approval took roughly nine months while Investec's took about four. Requirements have tightened over time, with banks now requesting penetration testing, stress testing, and live international transactions to prove funds can be traced end to end. _Developers building fintech integrations can follow how payment approval processes evolve on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [South African-built payment ring launches through FNB](https://daily.dev/posts/south-african-built-payment-ring-launches-through-fnb-ulmynwnup) · TechCentral · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Visa, FNB and RMB take aim at corporate cash](https://daily.dev/posts/visa-fnb-and-rmb-take-aim-at-corporate-cash-xqvbwhbrm) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Absa’s silence and the banking MVNO move no one has tried](https://daily.dev/posts/absa-s-silence-and-the-banking-mvno-move-no-one-has-tried-rxzmgtxhk) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The clock is ticking on South African banks’ biggest advantage](https://daily.dev/posts/the-clock-is-ticking-on-south-african-banks-biggest-advantage-0aybghkzf) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#nlp](https://daily.dev/tags/nlp), [#fintech](https://daily.dev/tags/fintech) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-payment-ring-winning-over-south-africa-s-banks-udfmnamml) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The payment ring winning over South Africa’s banks","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-payment-ring-winning-over-south-africa-s-banks-udfmnamml","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-payment-ring-winning-over-south-africa-s-banks-udfmnamml"},"datePublished":"2026-08-12T13:46:41.616Z","dateModified":"2026-08-12T13:47:08.144Z","description":"VezoPay, a South African maker of battery-free NFC payment rings, has quietly gone live with Investec and Absa, bringing its bank partner count to four, with a...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7a5dcaf3685eabe8ee0eef69d7d0ddb6?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7a5dcaf3685eabe8ee0eef69d7d0ddb6?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCentral","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCentral","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--RsqLDZrL--/f_auto/v1717745297/logos/techcentral","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-payment-ring-winning-over-south-africa-s-banks-udfmnamml","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"nlp,fintech","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCentral","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The payment ring winning over South Africa’s banks"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-payment-ring-winning-over-south-africa-s-banks-udfmnamml#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How does the VezoPay smart payment ring handle card security since it has no battery?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The ring carries a programmable, battery-free NFC chip and never stores payment credentials directly. Linking a bank card writes a one-time token to the ring, the same tokenization method used by phone wallets, and only one card can be tokenized at a time. Because the token sits on the card rails, the ring inherits the issuing bank's fraud controls, including location and velocity checks and a PIN prompt above R500 or at unfamiliar merchants. Anyone evaluating tokenized wearable payments can track how issuers implement this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why is it taking banks so long to approve smart payment ring products like VezoPay in South Africa?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Bank onboarding, not manufacturing or technology, is the main constraint on VezoPay's growth. Each bank runs its own internal governance and approval process before a separate South African Reserve Bank sign-off; FNB's approval took roughly nine months while Investec's took about four. Requirements have tightened over time, with banks now requesting penetration testing, stress testing, and live international transactions to prove funds can be traced end to end. Developers building fintech integrations can follow how payment approval processes evolve on daily.dev."}}]} ```