South Africa to open payments system to retailers, telecoms, fintechs in 2027

Non-banks expected to go live around March 2027 after licensing Direct access ends banks' intermediary role in national clearing and settlement Central bank says overhaul aims to cut costs and widen digital finance access Central bank to launch white-label ATM pilot in January By Nqobile Dludla and Kopano Gumbi JOHANNESBURG, Oct 16 (Reuters) — South Africa will open its payments system to non-bank operators, including telecoms firms, fintechs and retailers, from mid-2027, a central bank official said on Friday, as part of a major overhaul of the system. The change would end banks' longstanding dominance of South Africa's payments processing market, allowing non-bank firms to connect directly to the national payments infrastructure, which clears and settles payments nationwide, rather than relying on banks as intermediaries. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) hopes the reform will spur competition, lower costs, broaden access to digital financial services and encourage innovation in a sector increasingly challenged by fintech companies and mobile-money providers such as MTN. Pradeep Maharaj, executive director of SARB's Payments Ecosystem Modernisation (PEM) programme, told a med