The rumours have been confirmed- First National Bank (FNB) and PayPal have joined forces. FNB's exclusive Top Up and Withdraw service with PayPal allows FNB customers to top up and withdraw funds from a PayPal account via a qualifying FNB account.

FNB customers can open a PayPal account and link it to a qualified FNB account to receive PayPal payments in 21 different currencies.  FNB will convert the currency to South African Rands when the money is transferred into their accounts, with a transaction commission of 1.5% charged per transaction.

This agreement allows FNB customers to sell to PayPal’s global customer base of more than 81 million active accounts in 190 markets around the world and move the proceeds to their FNB accounts. All this of course with approval from the Exchange Control Department of the South African Reserve Bank.

 

“The exclusive top up and withdraw service with PayPal allows South Africans to make payments and receive money internationally without sharing their financial or personal information,” says Michael Jordaan, FNB’s Chief Executive Officer.

 

The announcement was generally well received by bloggers attending the event, with constant updates being made to the live Twitter stream which can be followed via #PayPalSA. Concerns were expressed about the lack of integration of the PayPal service for cellphone banking, except via an app available for the iPhone. The fact that South African PayPal users can’t be paid directly in Rand also raised a few eyebrows.

 

The South African PayPal site is up and running at https://www.paypal.com/za. Visit www.fnb.co.za for more info.