# Pay by Bank

> The payer authorises the payment directly from their bank account.

Source: https://hub.ozow.com/payment-products/payin/pay-by-bank/

Pay by Bank lets your customer pay you directly from their bank account. No card, no registration,
no stored details; they authorise the payment with their bank and the money moves from their account
to yours.

It's Ozow's core payment method and the one enabled on your account by default. It reaches the
roughly 47 million South Africans with a bank account, including the large share who have no credit
card or prefer not to use one online.

The other thing that sets it apart: once a Pay by Bank payment is confirmed, it's irrevocable.
There's no chargeback mechanism the way there is with card.

## How your customer pays

1. Your customer chooses to pay by bank at checkout and selects their bank.
2. They authorise the payment, either by signing in through Ozow's secure payment page, or by
   approving it in their own banking app, depending on the bank.
3. Ozow confirms the payment.
4. Your customer returns to your site.

Step 2 is where the experience differs, and that's what the bank API methods below are about.

### Bank API payments

Ozow has direct API integrations with a number of South African banks. Where one exists, your
customer authorises the payment inside their own bank's app or channel rather than entering internet
banking details on the Ozow page.

That's a better experience and a more reliable one. The customer authenticates with their bank the
way they normally do, often biometrically, and the outcome comes back from the bank directly, so you
get a definitive answer rather than an inferred one.

| Bank APIs | Bank |
|---|---|
| Absa Pay | Absa |
| Capitec Pay | Capitec |
| FNB Payment Requests | FNB and RMB |
| Nedbank Direct EFT | Nedbank |

Customers whose bank doesn't have a direct integration still pay through Pay by Bank, they just sign
in through the Ozow payment page instead.

## Enabling Pay by Bank

Pay by Bank is enabled by default on your Ozow account. If you're integrated for payins, you
already have it.

The individual bank API methods are enabled separately. Speak to your account manager about which
ones you want on your account.

> ⚠️ If you operate in a high-risk industry, **Customer Identity Verification** is mandatory for Pay
> by Bank and for several of the bank API methods. It changes what you build, so read [Customer
> Identity Verification](https://hub.ozow.com/integration-methods/apis/payin/identity-verification.md)
> before you start rather than after.

## Things to know

**Pay by Bank payments are irrevocable.** Once confirmed, the funds are yours. There's no chargeback
process, which is the biggest practical difference between Pay by Bank and card. You can still issue
a [refund](https://hub.ozow.com/payment-products/refunds.md); that's your decision, not something a customer can force
through their bank.

**Your customer needs internet or app banking.** A bank account alone isn't enough; they need to be
able to authorise a payment digitally.

**The experience depends on their bank, not on you.** You enable the methods, but which flow a given
customer sees is determined by who they bank with. Design your checkout so it reads sensibly either
way.

**Settlement.** For how and when Pay by Bank payments are settled to you, see [Settlements](https://hub.ozow.com/payment-products/settlements-and-float/settlements.md).

## Integrating Pay by Bank

Pay by Bank works with every Ozow integration method, and nothing bank-specific is required; it's
enabled by default and appears on the Ozow payment page.

- [Redirect to Ozow](https://hub.ozow.com/integration-methods/apis/payin/redirect-to-ozow.md)
- [Embedded iframe](https://hub.ozow.com/integration-methods/apis/payin/embedded-iframe.md)
- [Embedded modal](https://hub.ozow.com/integration-methods/apis/payin/embedded-modal.md)
- [No code payment requests](https://hub.ozow.com/integration-methods/no-code/payment-requests.md)
- [Plugins and platforms](https://hub.ozow.com/integration-methods/plugins-and-platforms.md)

**Standalone bank buttons.** To show your own "Pay with Capitec Pay" or "Pay with Absa Pay"
buttons and send customers straight to that bank, pass the relevant `institutionId`. Each bank
method has its own.
See [Standalone payment
buttons](https://hub.ozow.com/integration-methods/apis/payin.md#standalone-payment-buttons).

**Bank icons** for those buttons are in [Brand assets](https://hub.ozow.com/payment-products/brand-assets.md).