ContextOpening address at the South African Reserve Bank's Payments Conference 2026, before banks and payment firms; the central bank oversees the national payment system and is modernising it for more competition.
Why it mattersIt sets a dated timetable for South African payment reform: a new licensing framework in November 2026, QR+ pilots and regional transfers moved to TCIB in 2027.
- Payment rules can block new providers or shelter incumbents.
- Cross-border payments in the region stay slow and costly.
- Payment data could be misused without customer control.
- Apply the same rules to the same activities and risks.
- Move regional payments under R100,000 to the TCIB system.
- Publish an authorisation framework and pilot QR+ in 2027.
Read the speech summary
1. Why payments matter
Opening the central bank's 2026 payments conference, the Governor of the South African Reserve Bank described payments as basic economic infrastructure, comparable to power, rail and ports: unnoticed when they work, damaging when they are slow or expensive. South Africa wants to catch up with peers such as Brazil, the Philippines and India, whose systems modernised faster. He set out four domestic projects and one regional one.
2. Letting non-banks in
Today any firm that wants to reach the payment system must go through a bank. He argued that payment firms do not borrow short and lend long, the activity that justifies strict bank rules, so they need not be regulated like banks. A proposed exemption notice and authorisation framework would give supervised non-banks a direct route for specific payment activities, with rules on governance, protection of client money, operational resilience and reporting. The guiding idea is equal treatment for equal activities and risks, without shielding incumbents from competition.
3. PayShap's limited reach
The instant low-value payment service launched in 2023 has passed one billion transactions and more than R1 trillion. That remains small: its volumes are a fraction of card and electronic transfer volumes, and a 2023 survey found that cash still dominated everyday payments. Four obstacles hold it back: uneven limits and features across banks, unclear pricing, low public awareness and too few merchants accepting it. He also warned that large closed payment networks should face stronger duties to connect as they grow.
4. Inclusion tools
A single interoperable QR code, QR+, would let small traders accept digital payments without costly terminals; a pilot is about to start. A reusable digital identity for payments, held in a wallet the customer controls, would cut repeated onboarding checks. Payment histories could also help informal firms show their activity and obtain credit, provided customers keep control of their data, records can be corrected and basic services never require consent to unrelated uses.
5. Regional payments and timetable
Cross-border payments in southern Africa remain slow and costly, an issue South Africa pushed during its G20 presidency. Retail transfers below R100,000 are due to move to the TCIB regional system by April 2027, with a hub linking eight pilot countries by October 2027. The authorisation framework should be published by November 2026 and QR+ piloted in early 2027. The central bank will set direction, regulate in proportion to risk and run settlement; the industry is expected to invest and compete.