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Despite its well-established instant payment systems, research indicates that instant payments in South Africa still lack interoperability and inclusivity – gaps that could create targeted opportunities for payment service providers (PSPs).
The fourth edition of the State of Inclusive Instant Payments Systems (SIPPS) in Africa report, published in November 2025, details the significant growth of instant payments on the continent and highlights structural weaknesses that matter directly for PSPs considering market expansion.
It states that 36 instant payment systems were established across 31 countries in Africa in 2024, processing more than 64bn transactions with a total value of $1.98tn.
The report, produced by the AfricaNenda Foundation in partnership with the World Bank Group and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, shows that mobile-money systems accounted for the largest share of transaction volumes in 2024.
This dominance underscores the importance for PSPs of mobile-money interoperability when planning service expansion
Bank-led instant payment systems, as used in South Africa, recorded the fastest growth, expanding by 50 percent from 2023 to 2024.
The increased use of fast payments is linked to the significant rise in mobile penetration across Africa and the growing uptake of mobile money services. In South Africa, 92.1 percent of the population own a mobile phone, according to the 2022 Census, a critical factor for PSPs designing last-mile acceptance and consumer-facing interfaces.
A persistent challenge in African markets is fragmentation across messaging formats, technical standards and network connectivity – factors that limit interoperability and increase integration costs for PSPs.
Instant payment systems can mitigate some of this fragmentation, but only where they are built with open participation models, aligned standards and interoperable rails.
According to the SIPPS report, South Africa is one of seven African countries, along with Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and Tanzania, that operate multiple instant payment systems.
Instant payment systems are designed to enable digital transfers across different providers, although actual interoperability varies. They are categorised in four ways:
- Cross-domain: Facilitate interoperable payments between different types of payment service providers (PSPs).
- Mobile money: Facilitate instant payments between mobile money platforms.
- Sovereign digital currency: Process transactions in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
- Bank: Primarily serve traditional banking institutions.
Instant payment systems in Africa typically launch with limited participants and features, before gradually becoming more inclusive. This is intended to create secure and interoperable digital systems, but the long development period creates challenges around entry timing.
Secure, reliable inclusive payments
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) recently launched the Payments Ecosystem Modernisation (PEM) programme to upgrade the country’s national payment systems infrastructure. It aims to enable fast, inclusive and secure digital payments and to address fragmentation and non-bank access barriers.
The Financial Intelligence Centre has reinforced AML/CTF expectations for institutions participating in instant payment systems, ensuring consistent standards across all fast-payment channels.
Over the years, South Africa has expanded its instant payments offerings with the launch of two bank-led real-time payment systems: Real Time Clearing (RTC), which launched in 2006, and PayShap, which launched in March 2023. However, both have limited reach relative to mobile-money ecosystems elsewhere in Africa.
PayShap illustrates the shift toward broader digital payment usage. Its roadmap, based on QR/USSD expansion, merchant enablement and planned non-bank access, could materially reshape competitive opportunities for PSPs once implemented.
Measuring the inclusivity of instant payment systems
As part of its efforts to drive financial inclusion across the continent, AfricaNenda created its Inclusivity Spectrum to highlight the level of inclusivity of instant payment systems in the region.
The spectrum places instant payment systems in three categories:
- Basic: Support person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-business (P2B) use cases and enable the primary channel that people use in their country.
- Progressed: Allow all licensed PSPs to access the system, feature inclusive decision‑making and involve the central bank in their governance.
- Mature: Enable most use cases and operate according to not‑for‑profit or not‑for‑loss principles to minimise end‑user transaction fees.
Although South Africa operates well-established instant payment systems, the SIPPS report rates it at the basic level, alongside 14 other countries.
It indicates that many bank-led instant payment systems in Africa – including PayShap in South Africa – lack full interoperability with non-bank providers. As a result, they cannot achieve the broad coverage, network effects and open participation needed for advanced instant payment systems features to scale.
South Africa’s “basic” rating underscores structural limitations for PSPs, including restricted non-bank participation and limited cross-domain interoperability.
Nigeria is the only country in Africa currently in the mature category. The SIPPS report highlights measures such as fee transparency and fairness, a tiered participation model for payment service providers (PSPs) and a National Identity Number requirement for opening new accounts.
For South Africa’s instant payment systems to progress to Nigeria’s level, the jurisdiction will need to invest in the primary channels that users access, such as mobile wallets, as well as enable cross-domain interoperability and ensure it keeps transaction and participation fees low.
The PEM initiative is a significant step towards improving inclusivity. Under this programme and its Vision 2025 strategy, the central bank recently announced that non-bank fintechs will be allowed direct access to the National Payment System, benefiting PSPs.
Enabling future-ready payments
As South Africa modernises its instant payment systems, the opportunities for PSPs are becoming clearer.
The PEM programme and Vision 2025 initiatives are gradually opening access to non-bank providers, improving interoperability and streamlining transaction channels. These reforms create a window for PSPs to expand reach, integrate new services and participate directly in the national payment infrastructure.
PSPs may benefit from building capabilities that align with these structural changes: ensuring compatibility with multiple channels (including mobile wallets), supporting cross-domain payments and maintaining cost-effective transaction models.
Firms that engage early and design services around these priorities will be positioned to capture growth as the market shifts from fragmented, bank-led systems toward more inclusive, interoperable instant payments.
Ultimately, South Africa’s evolving infrastructure signals a market where reliable, scalable and accessible payments can thrive, but only for PSPs prepared to navigate the regulatory and technical landscape proactively.
