Standard Bank acquires stake in Payment24

Standard Bank has acquired a 40 percent stake in the digital fuel management solutions and telematics company Payment24 Group, which supports companies with large fleets.

Launched just over five years ago to fill a gap in the fleet fuel payment space, Payment24 operates across Africa, and has already seen wide adoption of its fuel management app in South Africa. It has partnerships with major filling stations in the country.

The company’s product range  – including the Payment24 fuel management platform, fleet fuel management systems, mobile fuelling solutions, vehicle tracking, telematics and geofencing packages – are developed out of South Africa to support smart fleet and fuel management as well as payments on the African continent.

Joint CEOs of Payment24, Shadab Rahil and Nolan Daniel, report that the new deal comes on the back of a successful three-year relationship with various divisions of Standard Bank. This includes the roll-out of the BlueFuel Fleet Card system across Namibia, which ensures that only authorised vehicles can fill up and authorise transactions.

According to Derick De Vries, executive head: fleet management at Standard Bank, the activities of Payment24 align to Standard Bank’s efforts and key strategic objectives of developing meaningful relationships that provide innovative solutions for clients. At the same time, the acquisition is set to fast-track Payment24’s growth, as it can leverage new opportunities.

“Through our strategic investment into Payment24, Standard Bank Fleet Management will strengthen its footprint across the African continent and will remain the leading digital and analytics-led fleet management services provider in Africa,” he says.

De Vries adds that it will also allow Standard Bank to provide its customers and oil company partners with an effective and digitally enabled solution to facilitate fuel, repairs and toll purchases across the 35 transport hubs and corridors in Africa.

These payment solutions provide mobile, radio-frequency identification (RFID) and biometric capabilities that are cloud-based and infrastructurally light with short deployment timeframes.

“We have had a good relationship with Standard Bank for some years, and our new partnership presents opportunities for both Standard Bank and Payment24,” says Rahil. “Standard Bank is the biggest bank in Africa, so this gives Payment24 leverage for growth into new markets and customer segments across the continent. We are already on a growth trajectory, but this new deal positions us for further exponential growth. We see this as a very strong partnership with synergies across a number of divisions.”