Mthobisi Nozulela|Published
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is moving to loosen banks’ grip on the country’s payments system, with Governor Lesetja Kganyago saying non-bank providers should be allowed to offer certain payment services without requiring a banking licence.
Speaking at the SARB’s Payments Conference in Pretoria on Tuesday, Kganyago said opening up the system to more players could increase competition, encourage innovation and lower costs for consumers and businesses.
"At the moment, anyone who wants to access the payment system has to go through a bank. But we recognise that there are some payment activities that do not require a banking licence".
New framework to open up payments system
The Reserve Bank is proposing a new Exemption Notice and Authorisation Framework that would allow appropriately regulated non-bank institutions to perform specified payment activities.
Kganyago said payment providers should not face the same regulatory requirements as banks because they do not engage in maturity transformation, where banks borrow short-term funds and invest in longer-term assets.
“The principle is straightforward: similar activities and similar risks should receive similar regulatory treatment,” he said.
The proposed framework would still require non-bank providers to meet safeguards covering governance, customer funds, operational resilience and reporting.
The SARB intends to publish the framework by the end of November 2026.
Kganyago also called for wider adoption of PayShap, the country’s instant-payment service, which has processed more than one billion transactions worth over R1 trillion since its launch in 2023.
Despite this growth, he said the service remained underused, citing inconsistent pricing, limited public awareness and insufficient acceptance by merchants.
“If PayShap is to compete with other payment methods, especially the most popular, which is cash, it must be simple to understand and affordable to use,” he said.
"Public awareness remains too low. Many customers still do not know what PayShap is, how to use it or why it may be preferable to existing options. Promotion cannot be left to occasional product campaigns. It requires sustained, coordinated customer education and a clearer common proposition."
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