Absa launches first multi-currency cash passport in South Africa

Card solution

Absa Bank, a subsidiary of Barclays has launched a Multi-Currency Cash Passport – South Africa’s first reloadable prepaid travel Multi-Currency Card.

The card allows users to load multiple currencies on the same card with global reach of MasterCard, while it is also accepted at 35.9 million locations worldwide. Cardholders can currently load up to four currencies on the card: US dollar, British Pounds, Euro and the Australian Dollars. More

“Although there are other prepaid travel cards in South Africa, they can only carry one currency at a time. The Multi-currency Cash Passport card has the ability to allow customers to carry foreign exchange loaded with multiple currencies on one card,” says Head of Retail Banking Arrie Rautenbach.

He continues: “When the card is used in the destination country, the system intelligently chooses the correct currency depending on the country the cardholder is in, as long as the currency is available (for example, if in the US the system will automatically debit the US Dollar purse on the card).”

“If an ATM withdrawal or point of sale transaction is made in a currency which is different to any of the available currencies on the card, or exceeds the relevant available currency balance on the card, the amount will be funded by converting the transaction amount onto the next available currency balance on the card.”

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