CHIPS is an ecosystem that provides a free, super-safe and bank independent place to store money while earning interest and enabling income creation.  At the same time CHIPS also provides mobile faclities and a business portal to spend, send, receive and track money. CHIPS presents the first regulated alternative to payment services offered by the banks today.

The CHIPS Money Manager can be used to pay any person, business or organisation that is a registered CHIPS user, in other words any entity that accepts CHIPS payments.  You can also create a Payment Code using your Money Manager, to pay at selected merchants that accept wiCode mobile payments (see the list participating merchants here).

No.  You need access to a Wi-Fi connection or must have mobile data available to use the app. 

The CHIPS Money Manager can be installed on Apple iPhones with iOS version 8 or higher, and other smartphones with Android v4.4 (KitKat) or higher.

The CHIPS Money Manager mobile app is available on the South African app stores of Google and Apple.  Search your specific phone’s app store for the CHIPS Money Manager app and install from there or click on the buttons below if you are using a mobile device to view this.

• Transferring from your bank account
• Buying cash vouchers at participating stores

There are several alternative ways to load funds into your CHIPS Value Store account, including:

• Asking you employer to pay your salary/wage directly into your CHIPS account
• Asking another CHIPS user to transfer CHIPS to you in exchange for cash
• Receiving CHIPS transfers from your family and friends
• Paying with cash at any retailer payment point that allows Pay@ payments

You can withdraw cash from your CHIPS account in various ways:

• At ATMs, by using the Withdrawal from ATM function, under Funds Out, on the Funds In/Out button.  Money Manager generates a code that you can enter into ATMs that offer cardless withdrawals (currently FNB and Nedbank ATMs can be used).  Unfortunately, there are charges involved due to bank and processing fees.
• At the tills of participating retailers, by buying a voucher (see list of participating merchants here)

Linking to another CHIPS user makes it quick to select the person for paying or sending money to.  Another benefit of linking to another person, business or organisation, is that you can set the default categorisation for payments made to or received from the counterparty.  This will, for future transactions with this party, automatically populate the categorisation fields associated with the transaction.

To link to other users you can either ask them to show you their unique QR code (My ID) which they can find under their Dropdown menu, or after receiving a payment from an unlinked CHIPS user, you will be asked if you would like to link to the payer.

The CHIPS service offers a free Value Store account (i.e. no monthly or annual charges), the CHIPS Money Manager app is free to download and most transactions are free or have a very low fee.  In all cases the fees are presented to the payer for authorisation before the transaction is submitted for processing.

The CHIPS Money Manager is available free of charge on the app stores.

Minimal to zero fees are charges to CHIPS users 

For more details on fees, see the Fees tab on the main menu of this web site.

Yes.  Transaction limits are imposed and enforced, depending on the FICA status level of the user.  The FICA status is determined by the quality and quantity of verifiable documentation that the user can provide.  The different levels, document requirements and transaction limits, are provided on Compliance sub heading under the Features menu item of this site. 

Businesses wishing to register, are taken through a separate online process that collects the necessary documentation based on the business entity's legal structure.

Yes.  If you want to pay and walk (much like NFC payments with card) you can specify an Express limit - any payment below the Express limit will not require any further action from you and will be processed. With an express payment you will not have the chance to view the transaction details, fees, etc. You can set your Express limit by selecting My Profile in the dropdown menu, then My limits and then you can change the Express limit amount.  In order to implement this change, you need to authorise it by provide your PIN or using your fingerprint. 

Yes.  Money that you receive or transfer by means of your Money Manager app is held in a safe custody account in the CHIPS Value Store where your money is invested in low risk investments, managed by an independent Financial Services Provider, regulated by the Financial Services Compliance Authority (FSCA).  In terms of the investment vehicle utilised, your account in the Value Store is insured against mismanagement, fraud and theft.

Yes. CHIPS is safe to use on multiple levels: Apart from the security mechanism implemented on a technical level (both from a mobile app and back-end system perspective) the user can also use several other ways to enhance the security levels, including device locking mechanisms.  The CHIPS Money Manager app requires your Password to sign on as well as requesting you to key in your PIN to authorise transactions - before they are actioned. This prevents anyone who gains unauthorised access to your phone, and obtains your password in some or other way, from transacting or effecting any changes to settings, as your secret PIN is required to authorise payments or change your user settings.  If you have a Touch ID-enabled device, you can use your fingerprint instead of your PIN to authorise.

CHIPS provides multiple layers of security to ensure that your money is safe.  Should someone, however, get hold of your access keys it is possible that the multiple layers of security within the system could be breached and your money could be transferred to someone else.  The fact that the money can only be transferred to another registered CHIPS user, ensures that the culprit will not get away with his crime.  Due to the compliance process that is followed at registration, every user is identified through the in-app identity verification process.  At the very least, the mobile number of the perpetrator could be used for his identification.

If your phone supports fingerprint recognition, you can activate it for CHIPS by opening your Security settings (under the app's dropdown menu).  Simply move the Touch ID authentication button to highlight that it is turned on.  Once activated successfully, you can use your fingerprint to activate your app and authorise transactions instead of the PIN, wherever required. 

You only need to capture your banking details to transfer funds to your bank account.  As per normal, you would need to enter your bank account number, branch code, etc. You can enter your bank account details in My Profile tab on the app dropdown menu.  The account will be verified with your bank.  You can capture one or more bank account should you wish to use more than one bank account from time to time.

When you get your new smartphone, you just need to install the CHIPS Money Manager app on your new device and login with your registered user name and password. It is also recommended that you uninstall Money Manager app from your old phone.  Refer to the CHIPS T&Cs under Safety & Security in the Money Manager app, if you require more information.

For support you can email your query or problem to the support email address.  The address can be found in the Money Manager app's dropdown menu under Support.

The terms of conditions can be found in the About Us dropdown menu under Terms and Conditions.  You will see that there are two documents, one for CHIPS and one for the Value Store (the AOS T&Cs).

Contact CHIPS support via our Contact Us page immediately and specify the issue that you have experienced. You’re also welcome to get in touch with us via Facebook or Twitter. Kindly assist us by providing the System Reference number of the transaction - you will find this number in the transaction details, at the bottom of the referencing information in under the History tab. We will investigate and follow up with you.

Click on the menu, Select “my profile” you can here change your personal detail and nick name, Contact detail, Bank accounts as well as daily limits.

Click the menu, Select “my profile” click on contact detail. You can change your email and phone number – and OTP will be sent to your new email or cell number.

Go to the menu, Select “my profile” click on contact detail. You can change your email and/or phone number – and OTP will be sent to your new email or cell number.

This option might be available in a future version and is currently under review. 

You can find the number of referrals you have on the Referrer Commission screen, under the Save function, as Successful referrals.  A successful referral is an invitation you extended to another person/s that they reacted on, in other words they clicked on the hyperlink in the invitation message you sent to download the Money Manager app and then registered as a CHIPS user (if they hadn't already done so before).  Your referral is only successful when the person registers successfully in response to your invitation.

The three category fields provided for on every transaction, enables you to analyse your income and expenses according to your analysis requirements.  You can provide the categories at the time of the transaction - to open this option, click on the three dots under payment on an iPhone, or read more on an Android phone. Some transactions are categorised by default based on the type of transaction (e.g. buying a prepaid product on the Marketplace), or you can establish a link with the person, business or organisation and enter your own default categories for each linked party.  Categories can also be inserted or changed on the transaction in your transaction History.