Reference
Payment Acronyms and Abbreviations Explained
A quick-reference list of payment acronyms, including EFT, RTC, RTGS, DebiCheck TT1-TT3, RM, RMS, AVS, CDV, PASA, PCI DSS, CIT, MIT and more.
The payments industry is full of acronyms, and South Africa adds a few of its own. This page expands the abbreviations you are most likely to see in bank specifications, payment reports and Kwik documentation, with a short explanation of what each one means in practice.
For fuller definitions of the underlying concepts, see the glossary or return to the Reference hub.
Acronym reference table
| Acronym | Full name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| AC | Authenticated Collections | The formal industry name for DebiCheck debit orders, where the payer confirms the mandate with their bank. |
| AEDO | Authenticated Early Debit Order | A legacy early-window debit order authenticated with the payer's card and PIN; retired in 2021 in favour of DebiCheck. |
| API | Application Programming Interface | The technical interface systems use to talk to each other, for example to create mandates or submit collections. |
| AVS / AVS-R | Account Verification Service (Real-time) | A bank service that checks whether an account exists, is open and matches the supplied ID or registration details; AVS-R is the real-time version. |
| BNPL | Buy Now, Pay Later | A payment method that splits a purchase into instalments, usually interest-free for the shopper. |
| CDV | Check Digit Verification | A mathematical check that a bank account number is validly formed for a given branch code; it does not confirm the account exists. |
| CIT | Cardholder-Initiated Transaction | A card payment actively initiated by the cardholder, such as a checkout payment. |
| CNP | Card Not Present | A card transaction where the physical card is not presented, such as an online payment. |
| CVV | Card Verification Value | The 3-digit security code on a card used to verify card-not-present payments. |
| DebiCheck TT1 | Transaction Type 1 | Real-time DebiCheck mandate authentication, where the payer approves via banking app, USSD or similar within a short window. |
| DebiCheck TT2 | Transaction Type 2 | Delayed DebiCheck authentication, where the payer has more time (typically up to two days) to respond to the bank's request. |
| DebiCheck TT3 | Transaction Type 3 | Card-and-PIN DebiCheck authentication, performed on a device at the point of sale or in the field. |
| EFT | Electronic Funds Transfer | South Africa's batch-based payment rails for credit payments and EFT debit orders. |
| EMV | Europay, Mastercard and Visa | The global chip card standard that secures card-present payments. |
| FICA | Financial Intelligence Centre Act | South African law requiring institutions to verify client identities and report suspicious activity. |
| FSCA | Financial Sector Conduct Authority | The South African regulator overseeing market conduct of financial institutions. |
| ISO 20022 | International Organization for Standardization 20022 | The international standard for rich, structured financial messaging that payment systems are adopting worldwide. |
| KYC / AML | Know Your Customer / Anti-Money Laundering | The processes for verifying customers and preventing the movement of criminal funds. |
| MID | Merchant Identification Number | The unique number identifying a merchant to its acquirer for card acceptance and settlement. |
| MIT | Merchant-Initiated Transaction | A card payment initiated by the merchant under a prior agreement with the cardholder, such as a subscription charge. |
| NAEDO | Non-Authenticated Early Debit Order | A legacy early-window debit order without payer authentication; retired in 2021 and replaced by DebiCheck. |
| NCA | National Credit Act | South African law regulating credit agreements, which affects how instalments may be collected. |
| PASA | Payments Association of South Africa | The industry body that has historically managed payment clearing rules; its functions are transitioning to a new payments industry body. |
| PCI DSS | Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard | The security standard for any organisation that stores, processes or transmits card data. |
| POPIA | Protection of Personal Information Act | South Africa's data protection law governing how personal information, including payment data, is handled. |
| POS | Point of Sale | The place or device where an in-person payment is made. |
| PSP | Payment Service Provider | A company that provides payment acceptance, collection or payout services to businesses. |
| RM / RMS | Registered Mandate / Registered Mandate Service | A debit order mandate registered with the payer's bank, and the service used to register it; unlike DebiCheck it does not require payer authentication. |
| RTC | Real-Time Clearing | The rail that clears once-off credit payments between banks within seconds. |
| RTGS / SAMOS | Real-Time Gross Settlement / South African Multiple Option Settlement | The SARB-operated system where high-value interbank payments settle individually, immediately and irrevocably. |
| SARB | South African Reserve Bank | The central bank, which oversees and regulates the national payment system. |
| SFTP | Secure File Transfer Protocol | A secure method for exchanging batch payment files between systems. |
| SWIFT | Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication | The messaging network banks use for cross-border payments. |
| TPPP | Third Party Payment Provider | An entity that collects or pays out funds on behalf of others across its own account, under bank sponsorship. |
| 3DS | 3-D Secure | The protocol that authenticates a cardholder during online payments, often via a bank app prompt or one-time PIN. |
Related reading
- How DebiCheck works for TT1, TT2 and TT3 in context.
- Payment participants for how issuers, acquirers and PSPs fit together.
- The South African national payment system for SARB, SAMOS and BankservAfrica.
Glossary
An A to Z glossary of payment terms used in South Africa, from acquiring and action dates to mandates, settlement, tracking and value dates.
Status Directory
A directory of payment statuses across cards, debit orders, DebiCheck, registered mandates and bank transfers, with what each status means and what to do.