The future of payments in South Africa: what SARB's Vision 2030+ means for enterprise

South Africa's payments landscape is entering one of its most consequential periods of change. In February 2026, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) published a consultation paper on Vision 2030+, the latest instalment in its medium- to long-term strategy for the National Payment System (NPS). The paper invites industry input on the trends and priorities shaping payments over the next five years and beyond.

Vision 2030+ builds on Vision 2025 but adds an overarching goal of inclusive growth and development, framing this as safely accelerating the digitisation of the payments ecosystem to enable inclusive economic growth and cooperative development across the African continent. 

For enterprises operating in South Africa, this is a blueprint for where the infrastructure underpinning every transaction is heading, and it carries direct implications for how businesses compete, scale and serve their customers.

At Stitch, we have been following the SARB's consultation process closely. The Stitch team, including two of our Group’s Compliance and Regulatory leads, Kathryn Santana and Leigh Bruinders, share their perspectives on what Vision 2030+ means for businesses operating in South Africa's payments ecosystem.

From Vision 2025 to Vision 2030+: the road so far

To appreciate what Vision 2030+ represents, it helps to understand how we got here. In 2018, the SARB published Vision 2025, a framework designed to set goals for the payment system aligned with the National Development Plan 2030 objectives of alleviating poverty and reducing inequality. The framework set out nine industry goals, ranging from financial stability and competition to interoperability and financial inclusion.

Progress was made, but unevenly. By 2023, the SARB concluded that a more active, interventionist approach was required, and launched the Payments Ecosystem Modernisation (PEM) Programme. PEM was described in the SARB's annual report as "the most significant strategic intervention in the payments ecosystem since the introduction of the SAMOS system and the enactment of the NPS Act nearly 30 years ago." 

At the heart of PEM is the establishment of a National Payment Utility (NPU), positioned as an inclusive, public-interest-driven infrastructure designed to drive economic growth, financial inclusion and broader access to payment services. In November 2025, the SARB acquired a 50% stake in PayInc, formerly BankservAfrica, as the operational foundation for this utility.

Vision 2030+ now articulates the strategic horizon that sits above PEM and the NPU, setting out the longer-term trends and goals that will shape how these building blocks evolve..

An open, ecosystem-led model

One of the clearest signals in Vision 2030+ is the shift toward an ecosystem view of payments, where value is created not by a single dominant player but through a network of interconnected participants working in concert.

As Leigh Bruinders, Regulatory and Compliance Lead at Stitch Group, puts it:

"It is encouraging to see SARB recognising the shift toward unbundled banking and the growing role of digital platforms and fintechs. This is a strong validation of the role they play in the payments value chain, and it signals a refreshingly open and progressive regulatory mindset."

The consultation paper identifies the progressive unbundling of payments from traditional banking services as a defining trend, noting that non-bank payment networks affiliated with mobile operators, social media and e-commerce platforms are fast gaining ground. 

This matters for enterprise finance and product teams. A single transaction today can already involve multiple participants across the stack, including banks, infrastructure providers, payment orchestration layers, networks and wallets. Success is increasingly determined by how effectively these components are coordinated, rather than by reliance on any single banking relationship. Vision 2030+ reinforces this reality and signals that the regulatory environment will continue to evolve in support of it.

Fintech infrastructure moves from the margins to the centre

As the regulatory environment evolves to support broader participation, fintech infrastructure is no longer adjacent to the core payments system; it is becoming structurally embedded within it. The ability to optimise checkout flows, improve payment success rates, support multiple payment methods and connect across providers is moving from a competitive differentiator to a baseline operational requirement.

As Kathryn Santana, Regulatory and Compliance Lead at Stitch, notes:

"This creates a more open, scalable and innovation-ready payments environment with direct implications for enterprise growth, conversion and expansion. Payments strategy has evolved into a core driver of business performance, not back-office infrastructure."

For context, global parallels are instructive. India's UPI enabled third-party payment providers to compete directly alongside banks virtually overnight once the regulatory framework permitted non-bank participation. Brazil's Pix, launched in 2020, became the country's default payment method within three years. South Africa is not on an identical trajectory, but Vision 2030+ signals a clear direction of travel.

Wallets, real-time payments and the changing shape of checkout

Vision 2030+ identifies the rise of wallets as a key structural trend, with the SARB anticipating that smart wallets could provide people with the vehicle for presenting identity, owning money and gaining access to markets.

This has a direct impact on enterprise checkout design. Globally, digital wallets accounted for an estimated USD 15.7 trillion in consumer-to-business spending in 2024. In South Africa, we are already seeing rapid adoption of Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, with Capitec Pay and Pay by bank growing quickly as bank-native alternatives. According to our 2025 Consumer Payments Report, more than 90% of South Africans tried a new payment method outside of cash and card in the last year. With checkout friction being directly correlated with drop off in transactions, even small improvements in payment flows can translate into meaningful revenue uplift at scale. 

As real-time payment infrastructure matures under PEM, enterprises will need checkout journeys that are mobile-first, instant and low-friction. Customers increasingly expect stored credentials, one-tap authentication and immediate confirmation. Businesses that design for this experience now will be better placed as adoption accelerates. Federated networks and the case for orchestration

Beyond wallets, Vision 2030+ anticipates a shift in how the underlying infrastructure is organised. The traditional concentric 'onion' model of payment access may give way to a more federated network topology, with multiple interoperable networks coordinated by central operators rather than a single hierarchical structure.

For enterprise leaders, this has significant operational implications. In a federated environment, the value increasingly shifts toward the orchestration layer: the capability to route transactions intelligently across the optimal network for each payment, handling retries, failures and reconciliation in a unified way.

This is precisely why payment orchestration is becoming strategically important. A business that can abstract away the complexity of multiple networks and providers, enabling access to card payments, Pay by bank, digital wallets and recurring collections through a single integration, is far better positioned than one that must manage those relationships independently. As Leigh notes, this creates "a clear pathway to scale more efficiently, enhance performance and expand across Africa with greater certainty."

Fraud, identity and trust as infrastructure layers

Vision 2030+ dedicates significant attention to the shifting nature of fraud risk. The consultation paper notes that as payment systems become more resistant to external attack, fraud is shifting toward authorised push payment (APP) scams, where users are manipulated into authorising payments themselves, and this is expected to become one of the most significant fraud risks facing the payments ecosystem. 

This has important implications for enterprise risk and operations teams. Traditional post-event fraud detection is insufficient in a real-time payment environment. Enterprises need stronger upfront identity verification, payee validation and real-time decision making built into their payment flows.

As Kathryn highlights, this also opens an opportunity:

"Vision 2030+'s emphasis on tokenised identity and verification of payee demonstrates how secure, seamless payments can be delivered without repeated KYC requirements. For enterprises, this means faster, lower-friction onboarding alongside reduced fraud losses."

The SARB's Digital Financial Identity (DFID) project is a central building block of the PEM programme, supporting more informed, risk-based decisions and helping to extend digital payment access to underserved markets. For businesses, this infrastructure layer will underpin trust at scale.

The African opportunity

Vision 2030+ also looks beyond South Africa's borders. The paper places significant emphasis on regional integration, including collaboration through SADC and initiatives such as PAPSS (the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System). South Africa has the potential to play a leading role in continental payments integration, and the infrastructure being built now is intended to support that ambition - though the consultation paper is candid that regional initiatives such as PAPSS have yet to gain significant traction..

For enterprises already operating regionally, or planning to expand, this matters. Cross-border payments in Africa remain costly and slow. As Leigh notes, the Vision's focus on African integration "creates a clear pathway for enterprises to unlock faster, lower-cost expansion across African markets."

What Vision 2030+ means for enterprise leaders

Vision 2030+ is a consultation paper, not a mandate. But it represents the SARB's clearest articulation yet of where South Africa's payments ecosystem is heading, and the direction is consistent with global trends that are already reshaping how enterprises compete.

A few questions worth putting to your payments and finance teams now:

• Is your payments infrastructure capable of routing across multiple providers and methods as the ecosystem becomes more federated? 
• Are your checkout flows designed for the one-click, mobile-first experience that consumers increasingly expect, and that regulators are building infrastructure to support? 
• Do you have real-time fraud controls and identity verification that can operate at the speed of modern payments? 
• Is your current setup giving you the data and reconciliation visibility you need across online, in-person and recurring channels?

As Leigh summarises:

"The stage is being set for a more open, interoperable and innovation-driven ecosystem. SARB has done well to put forward a clear, well-balanced and forward-looking approach to payments modernisation that aligns with global best practices whilst remaining relevant to local realities."

For enterprise businesses, the opportunity is not to wait for the infrastructure to arrive. Rather, it is to build toward it now.

FAQs

What is SARB's Vision 2030+?

Vision 2030+ is the South African Reserve Bank's latest medium-to-long-term strategy for the national payment system, published for consultation in February 2026. It builds on Vision 2025 and the Payments Ecosystem Modernisation (PEM) Programme, with an overarching goal of inclusive growth and development through the digitisation of South Africa's payments ecosystem.

What is the Payments Ecosystem Modernisation (PEM) Programme?

PEM is the SARB's flagship initiative to modernise the national payment system. Its core objective is the establishment of a National Payment Utility (NPU) — an open, interoperable infrastructure designed to provide fast, affordable and secure digital payment access, with the potential to broaden participation across the payments ecosystem..

How will Vision 2030+ affect non-bank payment providers and fintechs in South Africa?

Vision 2030+ recognises the progressive unbundling of payments from traditional banking and signals that the regulatory environment will continue to evolve to support broader non-bank participation. Over time, this could enable fintechs and other non-bank providers to play a more direct role in the payments value chain alongside traditional banks.. 

What does the rise of digital wallets mean for South African businesses?

Vision 2030+ identifies digital wallets as a central trend in the future payments ecosystem. As adoption of methods like Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Capitec Pay and Pay by bank accelerates, businesses need checkout flows that support one-tap, mobile-first payments to meet growing consumer expectations and protect conversion rates.

How should enterprises prepare for the federated network model described in Vision 2030+?

In a federated payment environment, the ability to route transactions intelligently across multiple networks and providers becomes a critical competitive capability. Enterprises should evaluate whether their current payments infrastructure supports multi-provider orchestration, smart retry logic and unified reconciliation across channels.

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