Stitch, one of South Africa’s largest payments fintech startups, has partnered with Capitec Bank, the country’s largest retail bank by customer base, to allow customers to automate recurring payments for services like Netflix, deliveries, and bills, using Variable Recurring Payments (VRP), a smarter form of direct debit.
“With Capitec Pay variable and recurring payments now available across our partner network and live with Stitch, clients gain more control and visibility over their ongoing payment commitments,” said Chris Zietsman, Executive Head of Capitec Business Payments. “We’re expanding Capitec Pay’s everyday uses, like grocery checkout and delivery – while keeping rates affordable for merchants.”
Capitac Pay VRP is one of South Africa’s first large‑scale, API‑driven recurring payment options, letting banked consumers pay for digital services directly from their accounts and reducing reliance on risky cash‑on‑delivery models.
Instead of manually approving a payment every time a bill is due or an order is placed, customers only need to set up Capitec Pay once. Users authorise a specific merchant, such as a delivery app, and define a maximum spending limit. Once established, future payments within that limit occur automatically in the background without requiring further action.
Commercial banks like FNB, Absa, and Standard Bank use the traditional DebiCheck system for recurring payments. While that system works similarly, Capitec is the first to use this specific new technology.
VRPs are expected to spread as open banking matures in South Africa, with PayShap, Capitec Pay, and fintechs like Stitch highlighted as early building blocks. For now, Capitec is the notable bank with a public VRP‑style API product, while other banks are more focused on DebiCheck improvements and broader open‑banking roadmaps rather than named “VRP” offerings.
“We’re excited to work with the Capitec team to bring this important solution to the South African market,” said Junaid Dadan, President and Co-founder at Stitch. “VRP gives Capitec customers more control over the way they make recurring payments, and helps businesses to streamline collections – especially where there are complex requirements. This will have a major impact on the market, and we’re excited to offer this to all our enterprise clients in South Africa.”
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