Draft Payments Industry Documents Published For Public Comment

In meeting its policy commitments and addressing the regulatory amendments required to implement the Payments Ecosystem Modernisation (PEM) Programme, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) published two draft documents for public comment.

The first draft document is a draft exemption, namely, the Draft Specific Payment Activities Exemption Notice (Draft Exemption Notice), which is set to be published under the Banks Act. The other document is known as the Directive in respect of specific payment activities within the national payment system (Draft Directive), set to be published under the current National Payments System Act (NPS Act).

Both documents, which were initially published in March 2025, have been revised and it is clear that the SARB has taken on board the numerous public comments received during the initial public comment period. The revised drafts are materially different from the version published in March. In particular, the revised documents seek to