Worldpay withdraws from SA - 07 November 2004 at 14:37
Worldpay announced on 5 November 2004 that it will no longer offer credit card payment processing services to internet merchants based in South Africa. By 5 January 2004 their withdrawal will be complete. The UK based Worldpay is also withdrawing from Mexico and South Korea at this time.
In an e-mail circulated to their South African merchants, the Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns Worldpay cited the increasing costs of offering payment processing services across the globe and the changing regulatory environment as reasons for their withdrawal.
They state that the directors of the company have made a decision to focus their business efforts on those markets whose growth justifies these increased costs.
The New Webmaster’s view is that this is a significant blow to the development of e-commerce in South Africa. What Worldpay’s communication seems to suggest is that the future development of South African internet business has been weighed up and a decision has been made that the rate of development is too slow to justify further investment in supporting e-commerce infrastructure in our country.
We disagree with this appraisal. Sure the e-commerce environment in South Africa is tough. Most of our population has no internet access at all, and those that do are largely reliant on antiquated and expensive dial-up connections. It is clear that a second network operator (SNO) must arrive on the scene soon.
The New Webmaster is presently in negotiation with other service providers to arrange alternative payment processing services.
We will keep you posted.
