South Africa's central bank has reversed course on restrictive crypto exchange controls following public pushback, easing cross-border stablecoin compliance. Elsewhere, pan-African operators are expanding direct tokenisation infrastructure across West and East Africa to shield merchant checkouts from credential theft.
Following the industry pushback we tracked earlier this month against the Reserve Bank's proposed cross-border stablecoin restrictions, South African Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana confirmed during his mini-budget address on Wednesday that the rules are being revised. The previous draft Crypto Assets Manual threatened to treat non-custodial wallet transfers as capital outflow triggers—a move operators like GoTyme Bank warned was pausing foreign investment. The revised framework will shift away from mandatory pre-approvals toward post-transaction assessments for legitimacy and tax compliance based on Financial Stability Board guidelines.
Why it matters
The decision to abandon mandatory pre-approvals and non-custodial restrictions prevents a major operational barrier for cross-border payment gateways relying on stablecoin rails into South Africa. Shifting to post-transaction tax verification maintains a viable legal path for automated treasury off-ramping without subjecting every wallet interaction to manual exchange control vetting. For B2B gateways handling cross-border merchant settlement, this regulatory pivot preserves flexible digital asset liquidity while a revised draft is prepared.
The South African Reserve Bank issued a draft exchange control circular on Thursday, October 22, advancing the Synthetic Financial Centre (SFC) framework proposed in the 2026 budget. The framework permits approved investment institutions and private equity managers to administer non-rand-denominated products and foreign mandates directly from South Africa. Participating firms can execute foreign asset operations under segregated accounts while retaining domestic classification for exchange control purposes. Written public comments are open until November 30, 2026.
Why it matters
The SFC framework introduces a legal mechanism for South African financial institutions to manage offshore holdings and foreign currency balances without relocating holding structures abroad. For payment processors managing multi-currency merchant balances, this creates a structured regulatory path to hold non-rand settlement liquidity locally. Establishing onshore foreign currency accounts reduces foreign exchange hedging costs and repatriation friction for international sales.
Fidelity Bank updated its mobile application on Tuesday, October 20, to support direct Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) cross-border transfers for corporate payments, commercial supply chains, and tuition. The bank reported first-quarter 2026 gross earnings of NGN 434.9 billion and total customer deposits of NGN 7.4 trillion. Its capital base was expanded by a NGN 227.05 billion private placement completed in December 2025, bringing its eligible capital to NGN 532.6 billion.
Why it matters
Direct integration of PAPSS into tier-one commercial banking applications shifts pan-African clearing from specialized treasury desks into routine business software. B2B payment gateways serving Nigerian merchants can leverage these native bank channels to clear regional trade in local currencies without intermediate USD conversions. This expanded bank liquidity base improves settlement reliability across regional trade corridors.
On Thursday, October 22, Interswitch Group announced the deployment of tokenisation infrastructure across Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda. Working with financial institutions and card schemes, the switch operator is embedding token management capabilities to replace sensitive primary account numbers with dynamic substitute codes for tap-to-pay and online transactions. Managing Director Akeem Lawal noted that while tokenisation protects merchant checkouts from card-not-present data exposure and improves approval rates, ecosystem collaboration remains required to combat account takeovers.
Why it matters
Deploying tokenisation directly at the switch level reduces merchant PCI-DSS compliance scope and shields payment gateways from raw credential theft during online checkouts. Higher authorization rates associated with scheme tokens directly improve checkout conversion for cross-border e-commerce merchants in West and East Africa. However, risk engines must still layer behavioral monitoring to catch identity theft before token generation occurs.
Paysys Labs launched a public demonstration on Wednesday, October 21, featuring a Mojaloop Inclusive Instant Payment System (IIPS) switch connected to the open-source Tazama fraud monitoring engine. Building on a development partnership established in August 2025, the live simulation illustrates how instant payment switches can evaluate transaction risk in real time. The system executes configurable typology rules to detect money laundering and fraudulent transfers during inter-provider clearing.
Why it matters
Real-time instant payment switches require sub-second fraud monitoring to prevent irrevocable transfer losses across interconnected participants. Demonstrating open-source components like Mojaloop and Tazama provides payment infrastructure operators with an accessible reference architecture for national or private instant clearing hubs. Deploying configurable fraud scoring at the switch level protects smaller financial institutions and payment gateways from systemic risk exposure.
WalletConnect Pay launched in South Africa on Wednesday, October 21, in partnership with local crypto service provider Ezeebit. The initial commercial deployment went live across 13 locations of hotel operator The Capital, allowing customers to settle bills in USDC or USDT from over 700 digital wallets. The integration abstracts away end-user gas fees, populates exact transaction amounts automatically, and provides merchants with instant local fiat or stablecoin settlement options.
Why it matters
Eliminating manual wallet entries and unpredictable gas fees resolves major operational points of friction that have historically blocked point-of-sale crypto adoption. Providing instant conversion into local fiat eliminates exchange rate volatility for physical and online merchants. This deployment demonstrates how abstraction layers can make stablecoin checkout flows competitive with domestic instant EFT and card rails.
On Wednesday, October 21, Equity Bank launched 'Equity Online for Business', a digital banking platform unifying commercial payments, payroll, and collection management for Kenyan enterprises. The system integrates commercial bank accounts, M-Pesa mobile money wallets, PesaLink transfers, and international wires into a single interface. It provides API connectivity for ERP integrations, bulk disbursements, and multi-tier approval workflows.
Why it matters
Fragmented collection channels across mobile wallets and traditional bank accounts create significant administrative overhead for merchants operating in Kenya. Unifying M-Pesa collections and interbank clearing within a single API-connected dashboard streamlines daily treasury reconciliation. For B2B payment gateway developers, deeper bank-level mobile money integration sets a higher standard for programmatic enterprise payouts.
Spreedly launched Composer on Wednesday, October 21, a visual payment orchestration tool that integrates the Dodgeball risk logic engine acquired earlier this year. The platform allows merchant teams to design conditional routing workflows combining risk scoring, identity checks, 3D Secure verification, and gateway execution without writing backend code. Built-in functions include dynamic 3DS triggering, automated soft-decline retries, and smart gateway fallback logic.
Why it matters
Hard-coded fraud rules and gateway routing logic create significant technical debt for small payments teams managing multi-acquirer setups. Unifying risk verification and transaction execution visual workflows allows risk managers to modify authorization rules dynamically without deploying new code. This flexibility enables B2B payment platforms to recover soft declines instantly and optimize processing margins across multiple acquiring partners.
Fintech platform Spendin announced on Thursday, October 22, the expansion of its payment network into Cameroon, Senegal, Benin, and Côte d'Ivoire. The company released version 1.7.7 of its mobile app incorporating AI-driven reporting tools, claiming 98.2% service uptime and a fourfold increase in registered users. Spendin also established a physical Merchant Community in Cape Town, South Africa, to support its cross-border expansion strategy.
Why it matters
Expanding payout connectivity across the CEMAC and WAEMU monetary zones addresses historically fragmented local currency rails in Francophone Africa. For cross-border payment providers, establishing direct mobile money settlement in XAF and XOF economies bypasses costly offshore banking hops. Building localized merchant hubs supports customer retention and trade liquidity across sub-regional commercial centers.
Regulatory Carve-Outs for Non-Bank Clearing Architecture Central bank frameworks in South Africa are separating payment authorization from deposit-taking licenses. By moving toward activity-based regulation, regulators are allowing fintechs and non-banks to connect directly to national clearing systems without bank sponsorship.
Expansion of Multi-Regional Tokenisation and Contactless Standards Switch operators like Interswitch are rolling out network-level card tokenisation across Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda. Replacing primary account numbers with dynamic digital tokens improves authorization success rates while insulating gateways from card-not-present breach liabilities.
Multilateral Local-Currency Settlement Bypassing Third-Currency Corridors Integrations into PAPSS, COMESA's DRPP, and China's CIPS network are scaling rapidly across commercial banks. By routing payments directly between local currencies or renminbi, merchants are reducing foreign exchange friction and eliminating USD intermediate prefunding requirements.
Recalibration of Cross-Border Digital Asset Exchange Controls Faced with extensive industry pushback, financial authorities are pulling back from blanket bans on self-custody and strict cross-border pre-approvals. Regulators are adopting post-transaction compliance models aligned with global standards rather than outright capital flow restrictions.
Embedded Risk and Payment Workflow Orchestration Payment platforms are consolidating fraud monitoring, 3DS authentication, and smart transaction routing into single-canvas interfaces. Unifying real-time threat signals with gateway execution lowers technical integration overhead and improves chargeback recovery for cross-border e-commerce.
What to Expect
2026-10-27—Closing date for the extended Dangote Refinery IPO subscription window.
2026-11-01—Expected publication date for South Africa's SARB payments Authorisation Framework.