Lesetja Kganyago

Governor, South African Reserve Bank

Opening and keynote address by Governor Lesetja Kganyago

📅 Oct 20, 2026 SAReserveBank 32 MIN 1155 VIEWS 39 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS

Governor Lesetja Kganyago delivers the opening keynote at the 2026 Payments Conference titled, "Catalysing Change in Payments, together." The two-day conference brings together leaders, policymakers, regulators and innovators to shape the future of payments in South Africa and beyond. This year’s conference is held under the theme ‘Rewiring Payments: Open. Connected. Inclusive.’ #PaymentsConference2026 #RewiringPayments

What Lesetja Kganyago said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, opened the 2026 Payments Conference by framing payments as essential economic infrastructure and outlining four initiatives to modernize South Africa's payment system: opening access to non-banks via a new activity-based authorization framework, deepening PaySharp use, improving interoperability through QR Plus, and developing a single digital ID for payments. He reported PaySharp surpassed 1 billion transactions and 1 trillion rand in value since 2023, but noted it processed only about 6% of card transactions and faces issues with parity, pricing, promotion, and acceptance. He dismissed mandates like Brazil's, preferring consensus, and warned against closed-loop systems. He announced a pilot for QR Plus, a digital ID initiative, and regional plans to move qualifying payments under 100,000 rand to TCIB by October 2027, with specific timelines for authorization framework publication and QR code piloting.

Key takeaways

PaySharp surpassed 1 billion transactions and 1 trillion rand in value since 2023, but is far from ubiquitous, with only about 6% of card transaction volume.
Non-banks will gain direct access to the payment system through a new activity-based authorization framework, replacing the current indirect bank-dependent route.
The SARB will not support closed-loop payment systems, applying a 'great power, great responsibility' expectation for connection.
Qualifying regional payments under 100,000 rand will move to TCIB by late April 2027, with a hub-and-spoke pilot across eight countries by October 2027.
The authorization framework will be published by end of November 2026, with QR code pilots starting in Q1 2027.

Numbers and commitments

Figure	What it refers to	Type	At
1 billion	PaySharp transactions since inception in 2023	metric	15:42
1 trillion rand	Total value transferred via PaySharp since inception	metric	15:42
6%	PaySharp's share of card transactions last year	metric	16:31
40%	PaySharp's volume relative to EFT credit volumes	metric	16:31
56%	Cash's share of payments in the 2023 payment survey	metric	16:31
under 100,000 rand	Qualifying retail payments to move to TCIB	commitment	26:38
October 2027	Deadline for CMA governors' sign-off on TCIB move	timeline	26:38
November 2026	Target for publishing the authorization framework	commitment	28:31

Chapters

0:00Payments as essential infrastructure
10:34Four modernization initiatives
11:33Opening access to non-banks
15:42PaySharp growth and challenges
21:44Closed-loop systems warning
23:44QR Plus for merchant acceptance
24:31Digital ID and data use
26:38Regional payments and TCIB
28:31Delivery timelines
30:08Roles and partnership

Questions asked in this interview

2:32So what has happened in the past few years?
7:13My only invitation to you is this: won't you kindly bring your full self into this conversation?
8:23I'm going to release this stage to our governor, who is going to extend his opening keynote under the theme 'Catalyzing Change in Payments Together.' Won't you please help me welcome Governor Lesetja Kganyago?

Noipo Shabalala 1:30 ↗

Two years ago, we came together with a shared purpose to shape the future of payments in South Africa. We imagined a payments ecosystem that is faster, safer, more accessible, and more connected. We agreed that modernization begins with strong foundations, with sound regulation that enables innovation to thrive. We emerged with a shared blueprint and a vision.

Lesetja Kganyago 1:59 ↗

We need to bring digital payments to everyone that operates in this economy, and it has to be free to the end user, and it has to be at low cost to the participant. That digital payments will act as a catalyst for positive social development. It will add to economic growth, and it will create the necessary but not sufficient conditions for financial inclusion.

Noipo Shabalala 2:32 ↗

So what has happened in the past few years? Significant reforms are shaping a more open and competitive payments ecosystem to benefit the consumer. Non-banks will be able to participate directly in the national payment system. Payment system management functions previously performed by PASA have transitioned to the South African Reserve Bank and PayCorp. And through the introduction of the QR Plus standard and the piloting of the QR Plus acceptance mark, we are creating greater interoperability across payment solutions. We are building a more connected payment system.

4 more exchanges in this transcript

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX

APA

Kganyago, L. (2026, October 20). Opening and keynote address by Governor Lesetja Kganyago [Interview transcript]. SAReserveBank. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3096132/

MLA

Lesetja Kganyago. "Opening and keynote address by Governor Lesetja Kganyago." SAReserveBank, 20 Oct. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3096132/.

BibTeX

@misc{kganyago2026_3096132,
  author       = {Lesetja Kganyago},
  title        = {Opening and keynote address by Governor Lesetja Kganyago},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, SAReserveBank. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {oct},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3096132/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}

▶

Key Quotes (2)

“Payments are essential economic infrastructure. When they work properly, hardly anyone notices, but when they perform poorly, everyone is affected. High payment costs or unreliable payment systems slow up an economy just as much as failures in other network sectors like electricity, rail, and ports. And just like in those sectors, we are enthusiastic about reforms to improve functioning and lower ”

▶ 9:29 POLICY

“The fact is PayP is far from being ubiquitous both for sending money between friends and families and for buying goods and services. Four main issues are holding us back. The first is parity. Customers still encounter different transaction limits, functionality and user experiences across participating banks. A nationally instant payment service cannot feel like a different product depending on wh”

▶ 17:34 POLICY

Mentioned in this interview

PaySharp: South Africa's fast payment rail, surpassed 1 billion transactions and 1 trillion rand since 2023

QR Plus: Standard for interoperable QR codes, with a pilot about to begin

SADC-RTGS: Regional settlement system, qualifying payments moving to TCIB from it

TCIB: Regional hub for payments, moving to hub-and-spoke model across eight countries

CMA CMA: Common Monetary Area governors signed off on TCIB move by October 2027

Brazil: Mentioned as peer with more modern payment systems, and in context of mandating PaySharp

India: Mentioned as peer with more modern payment systems, and in context of mandating PaySharp

SAMOS: System for settling between banks in SADC, can turn over a trillion rand in a single day

Earlier, on the same topics

“We have been grappling with the problems of cross-border payments and fast payment systems. Given their importance to the continent and to many others around the table we have raised this as one of our flagship priorities. We know the importance of payments for achieving greater financial inclusion ”

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About Lesetja Kganyago

Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, delivered the opening keynote at the 2026 Payments Conference in October, where he discussed ongoing reforms to the national payment system. He noted that non-banks will be able to participate directly in the payment system, that payment system management functions have transitioned to the Reserve Bank, and that the introduction of the QR Plus standard aims to improve interoperability. He reported that the PayShap real-time payment service has surpassed 1 billion transactions since its 2023 inception, with over 1 trillion rand transferred, while acknowledging that PayShap still processes a small share of transactions compared to cash and other electronic transfers. He emphasized the need for consistent customer experiences across banks and described payments as essential economic infrastructure. In September, Kganyago announced the Monetary Policy Committee's unanimous decision to raise the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.25%, citing geopolitical conflicts, oil price shocks, and global supply disruptions as sources of inflationary pressure. He warned that inflation could rise above 5% in the fourth quarter and stated that the Reserve Bank adopted a more restrictive stance to prevent second-round effects, saying the central bank cannot wait for such effects to materialize before acting. He also noted that South Africa's stronger starting position, including a lower inflation target and positive real interest rates, allowed for a measured response compared to past shocks. The Reserve Bank lowered its growth outlook, projecting annual growth of 1.2% for the year, and Kganyago indicated that future rate decisions would be made meeting by meeting based on incoming data.

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