Account-to-account settlement

Payment made directly between bank accounts over the real-time low-value credit-push rail, without a card scheme. Priced at 0.80% of value capped at R25 a transaction, which earns about 30 basis points net.

Blended net take rate

Net revenue divided by total payment volume. Falls from 64 basis points in FY2027 to 56 in FY2031 because growth comes disproportionately from the cheaper rail.

Cost of payments

Interchange, scheme assessment fees, sponsor and switching charges on card, and rail and sponsor charges on account-to-account. Deducted from gross revenue to give net revenue.

Cost to serve

Merchant support, risk and anti-money-laundering monitoring, per-merchant sponsor charges and hosting. R850 per practice merchant and R2 400 per trade merchant a month in FY2027, declining a third across the horizon.

Interchange

The fee payable by an acquirer to the card issuer, determined in South Africa through a regulator-led process rather than bilaterally. A cost that cannot be negotiated away.

Merchant discount rate

The percentage of transaction value a merchant pays for card acceptance. Modelled at 2.45% falling to 2.26% across the horizon.

Merchant settlement funds

Money belonging to merchants, held in a designated account, excluded from company cash and matched by an equal and offsetting liability. R148.6m by FY2031, against company cash of R64.4m.

Request-to-pay

A flow in which the merchant initiates a payment request from its own system and the customer authorises it in their banking application. Introduced on the national rail in December 2024.

Section 20 limitation

The South African rule capping the set-off of assessed losses at the higher of R1 million or 80% of taxable income in any year.

Sponsor bank

The settlement bank that sponsors a non-bank’s participation in the National Payment System, provides settlement finality and assumes regulatory responsibility for the flows introduced. Without one there is no business.

Third-party payment provider

A non-bank receiving funds from a payer on behalf of a beneficiary, governed under directives issued in respect of the National Payment System Act and subject to ongoing regulatory reform.

Total payment volume

The gross value of payments processed across both rails. R33.90bn in FY2031, of which 69% is account-to-account and 39% of net revenue.