SA Banks are facing a significant shift in technology and in how different groups of customers engage with it. While banks have invested heavily in protecting their customers against fraud, this focus has unintentionally slowed down spending in other areas. As a result, the cracks in the system are starting to become more visible. Currently,
Postbank and SASSA appeal to social grant beneficiaries to replace their SASSA Gold Cards with the new Postbank Black Cards by 28 February 2025. Beneficiaries who fail to get Postbank Black Cards before the deadline are advised that they will not be able to access their SASSA grant payments with the SASSA Gold Cards. After
Lesaka Technologies highlights that merchants in South Africa’s cash-driven township and rural economy remain underserved by mainstream financial services. This gap creates a significant opportunity for fintech companies to develop solutions addressing these merchants’ specific pain points, enabling them to serve their customers more efficiently and effectively. Lincoln Mali, CEO of Lesaka Technologies, emphasised this
Mastercard has opened its first office in Accra, Ghana, to support the country’s growing digital economy. This expansion strengthens its footprint across Africa, with existing offices in Cairo, Casablanca, Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi, and Mauritius. This move is part of Mastercard’s strategy to reinforce relationships with local stakeholders and foster inclusive growth in West Africa. “Opening
Stitch, a payments infrastructure company, recently acquired in-person payments provider ExiPay, expanding its enterprise payments offering to encompass both online and in-person payments through a single, unified platform. Despite the continued growth of e-commerce, in South Africa in 2024, just 6% of retail transactions took place online, projected to reach 10% in 2025. An increasing
Malek Ferdi, Senior Director Africa Diebold Nixdorf Banks in Africa While the African banking sector has regularly demonstrated its resilience, it still needs to address the issues of inclusivity and sustainability in its various territories to cement its transformation in favour of citizens, entrepreneurs and communities. In search of new challenges, African banks must be
South Africa is set to host the Finance in Common Summit (FiCS) in February 2025, marking a transformative milestone in the continent’s development finance narrative. This historic occasion coincides with South Africa’s assumption of the Presidency of the Group of 20 (G20), amid a period of significant political change and growing economic confidence. FiCS 2025,
Financial inclusion doesn’t begin and end with a bank account. It will be solved by a multitude of payment technologies – including cash. Financial inclusion is an elusive goal now closer to realisation than ever. It’s being tackled through various innovations from traditional banking and non-banking sources such as fintechs. According to a World Bank
Steven Maier, Chief Brand Officer at Amplifin As the South African payments landscape prepares for a significant shift, businesses reliant on DebiCheck debit orders, and specifically when authentication was not successfully obtained from Debtors, must brace themselves for the mandatory transition from the Registered Mandate Service (RMS) to the new Registered Mandate (RM) payment stream
South African bank Capitec has blocked electronic funds transfers and real-time payments to cryptocurrency exchanges as a security measure. While Capitec acknowledges growing interest in cryptocurrencies, the bank maintains that the measure is necessary to protect clients from fraud. Some industry players view this move as an attempt to restrict crypto trading. Crypto Payments Blocked
