SARB Phases Out PASA Role in South Africa Payments Overhaul

In Short

• The South African Reserve Bank, SARB, is starting to withdraw recognition of PASA in a payments system overhaul.
• SARB says everyday card payments and transfers will keep working as usual.
• Some PASA functions will move to SARB, others to PayInc, with the transition expected to finish by 2 September 2026.

What Happened

SARB is phasing out PASA as South Africa’s recognised Payment System Management Body. PASA is the industry body set up in 1996 to manage participation rules in the National Payment System, and it was formally recognised by SARB in 1999.

SARB says the change is part of a broader plan to modernise the payments system and improve reliability, resilience, and oversight. “Resilience” here means the system can keep running during failures, attacks, or outages.

As the transition starts, some PASA functions, staff, and intellectual property will move to SARB. Other parts will move to PayInc, the payments clearing company.

SARB said the shift will not affect consumer or business payments. Card payments, electronic transfers, debit orders, ATM withdrawals, and other everyday services should continue operating normally.

Why It Matters

This change puts more payment system governance directly under the central bank. SARB will take on regulatory and authorisation tasks, including card interoperability, which is the ability for cards and terminals from different providers to work together.

SARB will also oversee high-value Payment Clearing House activities, plus ecosystem-wide risk and resilience management. It will maintain oversight of payment standards such as MyStandards, a payment messaging standard, which is like a shared “language” for how payment instructions are formatted and exchanged.

PayInc will manage several retail payment streams operationally. These include credit and debit EFTs, real-time clearing arrangements, PayShap, and authenticated collections.

For fintechs, banks, and payment processors, the practical impact is mostly about who sets and enforces the rules. If SARB centralises standards and risk oversight, it could lead to clearer accountability, tighter compliance requirements, and faster decisions on national payment upgrades.