With tourists from around the world preparing to descend on South Africa this summer for the football World Cup, Absa has partnered Planet Payment on a service that lets merchants charge customers in their own currencies.
With around half a million tourists expected to visit South Africa for the event in June and July, Absa Card claims many will face confusion over how much they are paying for goods and services.
It has teamed with Planet Payment on the Pay in Your Currency service to enable Absa merchants to present international consumers with a choice of paying in Rand or completing the purchase in any one of the 30 supported foreign currencies.
Absa says it decided to offer the system after receiving positive feedback from its majority owner Barclays, which has offered a similar service in Europe for several years. Planet Payment also teamed with HSBC to introduce the service in China for the 2008 Olympics.
Donn Engelbrecht, director, acquiring and commercial cards, Absa Card, says: "At the highest level, the value proposition and benefit of Pay in Your Currency is simple. Cardholders intuitively prefer to make buying decisions in their home currency."