南非央行官员周五表示，非洲将从2027年中起向非银行运营商开放其支付系统，包括电信公司、金融科技公司和零售商，作为对该系统进行重大改革的一部分。
Africa will open its payments system to non-bank operators, including telecoms firms, fintechs and retailers, from mid-2027, a central bank official said on Friday, as part of a major overhaul of the system.
此举将终结银行长期以来在南非支付处理市场的主导地位，使非银行企业能够直接连接全国支付基础设施，该基础设施负责全国范围内的支付清算和结算，而不再依赖银行作为中介。
The change would end banks' longstanding dominance of South Africa's payments processing market, allowing non-bank firms to connect directly to the national payments infrastructure, which clears and settles payments nationwide, rather than relying on banks as intermediaries.
南非储备银行（SARB）希望此次改革能够激发竞争、降低成本、扩大数字金融服务的覆盖范围，并鼓励在日益受到金融科技公司和移动货币提供商（如MTN（MTNJ.J））挑战的行业中进行创新。
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) hopes the reform will spur competition, lower costs, broaden access to digital financial services and encourage innovation in a sector increasingly challenged by fintech companies and mobile-money providers such as MTN (MTNJ.J).
南非储备银行支付生态系统现代化（PEM）计划执行总监普拉迪普·马哈拉杰在媒体圆桌会议上表示，规范支付活动和豁免的规则将于11月发布。非银行参与者预计将在2027年3月左右正式上线，在获得许可证后进行测试和系统集成，以便在年中启动。
Pradeep Maharaj, executive director of SARB's Payments Ecosystem Modernisation (PEM) programme, told a media roundtable that rules governing payment activities and exemptions would be published by November. Non-bank participants are expected to go live around March 2027 following licensing, allowing time for testing and systems integration ahead of a mid-year launch.
此次改革是央行PEM计划的关键支柱，旨在减少对现金的依赖并加速可负担数字支付的采用。
The reform is a key pillar of the central bank's PEM programme, which aims to reduce reliance on cash and accelerate the adoption of affordable digital payments.
SARB计划现代化支付基础设施，提升像PayShap这样的快速支付服务的采用率，并加强安全性和数字身份验证。
SARB plans to modernise payment infrastructure, increase adoption of fast-payment services like PayShap and strengthen security and digital identity verification.
马哈拉杰表示，这些变化应能降低小企业和消费者的交易成本，减少对现金的依赖，同时为无银行账户和服务不足的消费者提供更广泛的数字支付渠道。
Maharaj said the changes should lower transaction costs for small businesses and consumers and reduce cash dependency, while giving unbanked and underserved consumers wider access to digital payments.
作为更广泛现代化努力的一部分，南非储备银行还提议创建一个全国性现金公用事业，即一家由中央银行拥有的现金处理公司，并引入“白标”ATM，将其作为共享基础设施运营，而非由个别银行运营，旨在降低现金处理成本，并保障现金获取渠道，特别是在农村和服务不足地区。
As part of the wider modernisation effort, SARB has also proposed creating a national cash utility, a central bank-owned cash handling company, and introducing "white-label" ATMs operated as shared infrastructure rather than by individual banks, in a bid to lower cash-handling costs and preserve access to cash, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
马哈拉杰表示，南非储备银行预计将在2027年将其现金中心迁移至新的现金公用事业，并在明年年底前开始纳入由公用事业收购的行业拥有的中心。
Maharaj said SARB expects to migrate its cash centres into the new cash utility in 2027 and begin incorporating industry-owned centres, which will be bought by the utility, by the end of next year.
他补充说，白标ATM试点将于1月启动，首批机器计划在明年年底前在全国范围内部署。
He added that a white-label ATM pilot would be launched in January, with the first batch of machines set to be rolled out nationwide by the end of next year.