Our CEO, Dave Glass, was recently interviewed by Talk 702’s Africa Melane about South Africa’s banking sector and its need to adopt future-proof platforms. We summarise some of the key points in this recap.

South Africa’s banking system is one of the most highly regarded in the world. Part of that success can be credited to the legislation that governs it and the high profit margins that are reinvested into the sector. Yet, many of the banks are running on legacy platforms that are more than 30 years old. 

“Our banking system is like driving an expensive old car. It's very reliable and goes very well, but slowly over time it gets harder and harder to find parts, and it gets harder and harder to be sure that your car is going to remain reliable.”

There are three key drivers for change in South Africa

New Regulation

The current payments regulation was largely written in the late 90s, which looked significantly different to the world we live in today. Acknowledging this, the government is in the process of drafting new legislation to support payments in South Africa. This legislation may require banks to enhance or completely replace their current platforms.

Demand for Instant Payments

To be competitive and meet consumer expectations, banks need to modernise their core processing platforms to support the rising demand for instant payments.

“People… are starting to expect that making a payment is as easy as sending a WhatsApp message.”

New and Better Technology

AI and cloud-computing are new and transformational technologies that are enabling banks and fintechs to provide the market with better and faster products. Incumbents need to adopt these technologies to remain competitive through the next generation of banking.

Learn how Electrum uses cloud-native technology to power the next generation of payments.