SARB payment reforms could open more activities to non-banks

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is developing an activity-based approach to payment-system regulation that could allow non-banks, including supermarkets and fintech companies, to undertake activities such as e-money issuance and merchant acquiring. Its Payments Ecosystem Modernisation programme also describes a route for non-banks to access clearing and settlement without bank sponsorship.

Rand Desk reported on 19 October 2026 that a SARB roadmap presented at a September industry dialogue planned publication of an exemption notice and authorisation framework in November 2026. The SARB’s programme page describes those instruments but does not confirm the reported publication date.

How the framework is intended to work

The SARB says it intends to implement the changes through an exemption notice, a licensing and authorisation framework, and updates to the forthcoming National Payment System Bill. Taken together, those measures describe a shift towards regulating participation by payment activity, rather than treating bank sponsorship as the only route into the activities identified by the programme.

For businesses considering payment services, the commercial significance is the prospect of a more direct route to activities such as merchant acquiring or e-money issuance, alongside access to clearing and settlement. The SARB presents these as intended changes, not as arrangements already available under the proposed framework.

Payment infrastructure is part of the programme

The SARB says it has acquired a 50% shareholding in PayInc, formerly BankservAfrica. It describes PayInc as transitioning into a national payment utility intended to serve both banks and non-bank providers.

That infrastructure plan places the proposed regulatory opening in a broader payment-system overhaul. The exemption notice and authorisation framework would address participation, while PayInc’s intended role concerns the utility serving providers that operate in the system. The timing of any November publication remains a reported target rather than a date confirmed on the SARB programme page.