It is an exciting time in the South African payments landscape with the convergence of digital adoption, access to cloud solutions, and upcoming legislation changes.

The recent Open Payments Conference speakers and panel guests explored some of these topics, and we believe there are five main themes to be kept top of mind in the coming months:

1. Modernisation holds genuine opportunities

Modernisation is not just a buzzword. Banks, retailers, and Third Party Payment Providers (TPPPs) stand to benefit from modern technology and modern legislation. It is clear that we need to understand the risks with solutions such as cloud-native platforms; but, once de-risked, opportunities for innovation open up.

2. Interoperability is key

There is power in collaboration, and systems need to be interoperable. BankServAfrica, PASA, and the SARB can’t do it alone - partnerships are needed to serve all South Africans. Collaboration and interoperability will help to build trust across the board.

3. Is Digital Identity the future?

Speakers explored the idea that your mobile device is going to become your ID, and that individuals need to be able to prove their own credentials. The line between payments and data is going to blur, so how is your business positioning itself to leverage this shift?

4. Customer-centric approaches will be the driving force moving forward

Panel discussions drove home the point that open payments is not really about the technology: The focus needs to be on consumer adoption. The end-user experience is vital, education is crucial, and a real understanding of who your customer is, is going to be a differentiating factor.

5. Open Banking is creating the space for new role players

Fintechs and TPPPs are going to have the space to accelerate the pace of change with the opportunities and access they are given through open banking. In the end, the consumer is going to reap the benefits. Traditional banks and retailers need to keep up, but as the success of open banking in the UK highlighted, enough opportunities for innovation and collaboration exist for all businesses to play a role.

We will be blogging about these and other themes over the next few weeks, follow us on LinkedIn to get the inside scoop. Are these the themes that stood out for you? We would love to hear which did, and continue the discussion, so pop us an email.