Glossary
Glossary of payment terms
Definitions of the most commonly used terms in the African payment ecosystem. Mobile money, payment processing, security, compliance.
3
3D Secure / SCA
SecurityStrong Customer Authentication — enhanced authentication protocol for card payments. Wajub automatically handles the bank iframe display.
T
Transaction
Payment ProcessingPayment attempt, from pending to complete or failed.
Transfer
Payment ProcessingSingle outgoing payment to a beneficiary.
Tokenisation
SecurityReplacement of sensitive payment data (card number, mobile money number) with a unique token. Enables recurring payments without storing sensitive data.
L
Link
Payment ProcessingShareable payment link (product, event, donation, crowdfunding).
I
Invoice
Payment ProcessingNamed invoice with items, VAT, due date.
B
Beneficiary
Payment ProcessingRegistered transfer recipient.
BYOP
Payment ProcessingBring Your Own Provider — use your own provider contracts with 0% Wajub fees.
BCEAO
ComplianceCentral Bank of West African States — issuing institute of the UEMOA zone (XOF). Regulates payment services in 8 West African countries.
BEAC
ComplianceBank of Central African States — issuing institute of the CEMAC zone (XAF). Regulates payment services in 6 Central African countries.
C
Customer
Payment ProcessingCustomer who pays (identified or anonymous).
Components
Payment ProcessingModular UI components to build your own checkout.
Circuit Breaker
Payment ProcessingProtection mechanism that automatically isolates a failing provider after a configurable number of failures, avoiding unnecessary attempts and preserving overall approval rate.
R
Refund
Payment ProcessingFull or partial refund of a transaction.
Rail Wajub
Payment ProcessingConnection mode where you use Wajub's pre-negotiated accounts and contracts with providers. Decreasing fees based on your plan (2.0% → 1.2%).
D
Dispute
Payment ProcessingDispute opened by the customer or bank.
W
Webhook
Payment ProcessingSigned HTTP notification of an event.
Wave
Mobile MoneyPopular mobile money service in Senegal and Ivory Coast, known for low fees and simple interface.
S
Sandbox
Payment ProcessingFree, unlimited, isolated test environment.
Sync
Payment ProcessingConnected accounts platform (master/slave) with integrated KYC.
Shield
SecurityAnti-fraud engine — 18 signals analyzed in real time.
Smart Routing
Payment ProcessingTechnology that analyzes each provider's performance in real time and automatically routes transactions to the best-performing provider.
Smart Retry
Payment ProcessingIntelligent retry mechanism for failed payments with optimized timing based on success patterns (e.g., retry 2 hours later for insufficient balance).
Settlement
Payment ProcessingFund settlement — the actual transfer of money from the provider to your bank account. With Wajub, settlement happens in 24-48h compared to 7-14 days directly.
O
Orchestration
Payment ProcessingIntelligent routing between providers with automatic protection and instant failover.
Orange Money
Mobile MoneyOrange mobile money service, available in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea.
M
Mobile Money
Mobile MoneyPayment service via mobile phone using airtime credit or an electronic wallet. Major operators in Africa: MTN MoMo, Orange Money, Wave, M-Pesa, Airtel Money.
MTN MoMo
Mobile MoneyMTN Mobile Money, available in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia. Leading mobile payment method in Central and West Africa.
M-Pesa
Mobile MoneySafaricom/Vodacom mobile money service, very popular in Kenya and Tanzania. One of the first mobile money services in the world.
A
Airtel Money
Mobile MoneyAirtel mobile money service, available in DR Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia.
Approval Rate
Payment ProcessingPercentage of authorized transactions out of total attempts. A 94% approval rate means 94 out of 100 transactions are accepted.
AML / CFT
ComplianceAnti-Money Laundering / Combating the Financing of Terrorism — measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
U
USSD
Mobile MoneyUnstructured Supplementary Service Data — communication protocol used by GSM networks for mobile money transactions. Works on all phones, even without internet.
P
Push Payment
Mobile MoneyPayment initiated by the payer (the customer sends money). Dominant mobile money model in Africa, as opposed to pull payment (bank card).
PCI DSS
CompliancePayment Card Industry Data Security Standard — security standard for managing bank card data. Wajub follows PCI DSS requirements.
F
Failover
Payment ProcessingAutomatic switching from one provider to another in case of failure or unavailability, without manual intervention and without customer impact.
K
KYC / KYB
ComplianceKnow Your Customer / Know Your Business — identity verification process for customers (KYC) and businesses (KYB). Regulatory requirement for financial services.