Tag: card payment

Capitec reports 36% growth in its financial results for the six months ended 31 August 2024, driving headline earnings to R6.4 billion. The nation’s leading retail bank – now with 23 million clients – says its strategic focus and continued investment in digital transformation since 2020, product diversification, and client-centric solutions continue to yield impressive results, positioning it as a trailblazer in South Africa's financial services sector.

In the heart of South Africa's vibrant township economy, valued at an estimated R750 billion, a transformative shift is taking place. Small to medium-sized businesses are flourishing as the adoption of cashless transactions grows. Despite the widespread availability of banking services, with eight out of ten South African adults having a bank account, cash remains the dominant form of payment.

A unique selling proposition (USP) has to form part of the very fabric of an organisation. It needs to wrap around how employees behave towards clients, how the company approaches service, and every action and interaction within and without the business.

With an estimated 150,000 micro merchants in townships, peri urban areas and rural areas, digitalising small and informal merchants could create significant economic spinoffs for underserved and excluded communities across the nation. Generating R178 billion in annual sales, merchants serve around 80% of the population. These merchants are often excluded from the financial and technology tools that larger retailers take for granted, restricting them from reaching their full potential.

With recent research showing that only 14% of South African consumers are ready to go completely cashless, retailers should be looking at ways to accommodate their customers’ preferred way to pay, while also reducing their operating costs.

Individual consumers and businesses will no longer be able to cash cheques in South Africa. This follows a joint announcement by the SARB, FSCA, PASA and BASA which confirmed that the issuing and acceptance or collection of cheques will cease from 31 December 2020.