Introducing Virtual Accounts, with Paystack-Titan
Accept reliable, blazing fast bank transfer payments, at scale
Three years ago, we introduced Paystack Virtual Accounts — auto-generated bank accounts that allow businesses in Nigeria accept bank transfer payments from customers. Since 2020, we’ve processed over 170 million unique transactions for over 60,000 businesses via Paystack Virtual Accounts in partnership with Wema Bank, Access Bank, and Zenith Bank.
Today, we’re excited to announce Paystack-Titan, a blazing fast improvement to Virtual Accounts, that allows businesses accept bank transfers instantly, reliably, and at scale. Where most comparable transfer products require over 60 seconds or more to be confirmed, 99% of bank transfers collected via Paystack-Titan are confirmed within 8 seconds.
What’s a Paystack Virtual Account?
A Paystack Virtual Account is a digital bank account created on your behalf or in your customer’s name to enable seamless payments via bank transfer.
For example, when your customer chooses the Pay with Transfer option on the Paystack Checkout, we automatically create a virtual bank account number on your behalf, to which they can send the bank transfer. The money sent to this account number is then forwarded to the same payout bank account where you receive all payments you collect from Paystack.
Thousands of businesses — from savings startups to food delivery services — also use Paystack Virtual Accounts to assign Dedicated Virtual Accounts to their customers.
Virtual Accounts and Dedicated Virtual Accounts are fundamentally the same technology — a virtual bank account, to which a customer can make a bank transfer. The difference is that, while the Virtual Accounts generated on the Paystack Checkout are randomized and temporary, a Dedicated Virtual Account is a permanent bank account number that a business can assign to a specific customer, to enable repeat bank transfer payments from that customer.
For example, a savings fintech could use Paystack Dedicated Virtual Accounts to generate a bank account for each of their customers. Each saver receives a custom bank account number, to which the saver can send instant bank transfers anytime they want to put money away for saving.
Over the years, we’ve partnered with Wema Bank, Access Bank, and Zenith Bank to create Virtual Accounts, and now, we’re excited to extend this relationship to our friends at Titan Trust Bank, a commercial bank licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Paystack-Titan offers an even faster, and more reliable Pay with Transfer experience
Paystack-Titan is a partnership between Paystack and Titan Trust Bank. The partnership enables customers to make instant, reliable bank transfers at scale to Paystack merchants.
The Paystack-Titan relationship allows Paystack to integrate directly with the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), which gives us real-time insights into the progress of every single transaction and helps us deliver a markedly superior customer experience.
In practice, this translates to extremely high reliability and high success rates (you’ll get your money every time the customer attempts a valid payment), very fast bank transfers (the transaction will be completed in seconds), and instant refunds in the rare case where there’s an issue with a payment.
To complete a transfer to a Paystack-Titan bank account, customers can go to their bank or wallet app, and then search for and choose "Paystack-Titan" from the list of destination banks — the exact same process they follow when making transfers to any other bank account.
How to create Paystack Virtual Accounts
Paystack Virtual Account is already enabled by default for the Pay with Transfer channel on the Paystack Checkout, for all businesses in Nigeria.
So if a customer chooses to pay you via Pay with Transfer, they’ll see a virtual bank account number created on your behalf to which they can make an instant bank transfer. This feature is already enabled by default.
Dedicated Virtual Accounts, on the other hand, require a little bit of setup. You can create Dedicated Virtual Accounts from the Paystack Dashboard, or via API.
From your Paystack Dashboard, go to the Customers page, and select the customer for whom you’d like to create virtual accounts. Then select the Dedicated Virtual Account tab, and follow the on-screen instructions. All you need is the customer’s full name, phone number, and email address. If you’d like to create virtual accounts for many customers at a time, you can do so via our API.
Please note that to be able to create Dedicated Virtual Accounts, your business must be a registered business in Nigeria.
When customers make bank transfers to a Paystack Virtual Account, the transactions will reflect on the Transaction page on your Paystack Dashboard just like any other payment made via card, bank, USSD, etc.
All businesses immediately have access to 1,000 virtual accounts that can be assigned to customers, but you can request an increase by sending an email to [email protected].
Accept reliable, blazing fast bank transfer payments, at scale
Join over 200,000 businesses that accept payments using Paystack.
Get started with Virtual AccountsLive Q&A: How Savings, Lending, and Wallet Operator companies use Paystack Dedicated Virtual Accounts to drive growth
Join our Live Q&A session as we discuss Paystack Dedicated Virtual Accounts, and how ambitious businesses use it to accept instant, reliable bank transfer payments at scale from customers.
We’ll walk through specific examples of how savings and lending companies, as well as companies who operate wallets, use Dedicated Virtual Accounts to provide phenomenal customer experiences, and drive growth.
Book a free seat to this live Q&A to get all your questions about Virtual Accounts answered in real time.
🗓️ Date: Thursday, September 28, 2023
⏰ Time: 3 PM (WAT
Common questions
How do I create Dedicated Paystack Virtual Accounts for my customers?
You can create Paystack Dedicated Virtual Accounts from your Paystack Dashboard or via APIs. Learn how to create Dedicated Virtual Accounts here.
What are the requirements for creating Dedicated Virtual Accounts?
Dedicated Virtual Accounts are available to all Paystack merchants with Registered Businesses in Nigeria. If you’d like to create Dedicated Virtual Accounts for your customers, all you need is their phone number, full name, and email address. If you run a business in Financial Services, Betting, and General Services, you’ll need to validate your customers’ details. For more on customer validation, please visit our Developer Documentation.
How many Dedicated Virtual Accounts can I create?
All Paystack Registered Businesses can immediately create up to 1,000 Dedicated Virtual Accounts. If you’d like to create more, kindly send an email to [email protected].
How much does Paystack charge for Virtual Accounts?
For auto-generated Virtual Accounts, we charge the same as all payments made via the Paystack Checkout, and you can check out our Pricing page for up-to-date pricing information.
For transactions sent to Dedicated Virtual Accounts, the fee is 1% of the amount, capped at N300 per transaction.
Can I create a Virtual Account for USD and other non-Naira transactions?
No, Virtual Accounts are currently limited to Naira only.
Which bank options are available for Paystack Virtual Accounts?
We currently support Virtual Accounts for Paystack-Titan and Wema Bank.
Accept instant, reliable bank transfer payments, at scale
Paystack-Titan is our latest collaboration to allow faster and more reliable bank transfer payments for businesses in Nigeria. As more customers in Nigeria choose to pay via bank transfer, we’re excited to continued to build the infrastructure that allows businesses manage this fast growing payment channel, at scale.
If you’d like to see Paystack-Titan in action, try out a payment on the Paystack Checkout demo. Select Pay with Transfer to see an auto-generated Virtual Account number. To pay, go into your favourite wallet or bank app, and select Paystack-Titan from the list of banks ❤️
