Digital infrastructure and financial regulation
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Individual Reform: Digital infrastructure and financial regulation 2026 - 2027

Comprehensive upgrade and rollout of South Africa’s digital identity verification system. Verification for both public and private sector services, including banks, insurers and telcos.

No data available for the deliverable: Comprehensive upgrade and rollout of South Africa’s digital identity verification system. Verification for both public and private sector services, including banks, insurers and telcos.

No data available for the deliverable: Comprehensive upgrade and rollout of South Africa’s digital identity verification system. Verification for both public and private sector services, including banks, insurers and telcos.

No data available for the deliverable: Comprehensive upgrade and rollout of South Africa’s digital identity verification system. Verification for both public and private sector services, including banks, insurers and telcos.

No data available for the deliverable: Comprehensive upgrade and rollout of South Africa’s digital identity verification system. Verification for both public and private sector services, including banks, insurers and telcos.

No data available for the deliverable: Comprehensive upgrade and rollout of South Africa’s digital identity verification system. Verification for both public and private sector services, including banks, insurers and telcos.

No data available for the deliverable: Comprehensive upgrade and rollout of South Africa’s digital identity verification system. Verification for both public and private sector services, including banks, insurers and telcos.

No data available for the deliverable: Comprehensive upgrade and rollout of South Africa’s digital identity verification system. Verification for both public and private sector services, including banks, insurers and telcos.

Summary

The reform includes a national smart ID rollout, biometric verification, digital onboarding and integration with banks and government services.Regulatory programmes are enhancing digital‑ID and e‑KYC systems and improving interoperability across banks, insurers, telcos and payments providers. National digital identity and verification solutions have been rolled out widely, and regulators monitor performance, resilience and data‑protection compliance. Budget Review 2026 reinforces digital infrastructure priorities through the Payments Ecosystem Modernisation (PEM) Programme, activity‑based payment licensing, open‑finance work and strengthened cyber‑resilience, all of which rely on robust underlying digital infrastructure.

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Is it working?

Implementation is broad‑based and interoperability is increasingly standard, which supports faster, cheaper and more convenient digital services. Key residual challenges are closing remaining gaps for smaller and legacy institutions, maintaining strong privacy and cyber‑security protections and ensuring that digital ID systems do not inadvertently exclude vulnerable customers.

Actions

Regulators have overseen rollout of upgraded digital‑ID and KYC systems across major institutions, established coordination structures among financial sector regulators and other digital‑infrastructure actors. There are also integrated digital‑identity considerations to be worked into broader payments‑modernisation and conduct‑supervision programmes.

Are there plans?

Authorities plan continued refinement of digital ID and e‑KYC frameworks, periodic stress‑testing and interoperability reviews and alignment with evolving payments, open‑finance and cybersecurity standards to ensure that digital infrastructure supports both innovation and consumer protection.

Is it on the agenda?

Digital infrastructure modernisation is a recurring theme in Cabinet and FSCA agendas and is closely linked to SARB’s payment system reforms and open‑finance initiatives highlighted in Budget Review 2026.

Goals

To modernise digital identity verification, payments and infrastructure, supporting secure, efficient financial services and financial inclusion. It integrates biometric (fingerprint, facial recognition) checks against the national population register. The objective is to upgrade digital identity, resilience and interoperability for financial institutions.

References

Departments / Govt Institutions

Department of Home Affairs National Treasury South African Reserve Bank (SARB)

Summary

The reform includes a national smart ID rollout, biometric verification, digital onboarding and integration with banks and government services. This includes know your customer (KYC) processes (verifying that a new client is who they say they are and is not on any sanctions or criminal watch list) which are the foundation of financial crime prevention. Digital identity verification (eKYC) allows banks and financial institutions to verify identity electronically, reducing cost, time and fraud risk. South Africa has been upgrading digital identity and eKYC infrastructure across banks, insurers and telecoms companies, with the sector now largely integrated with the national digital identity system.

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Is it working?

The eKYC and digital identity system now covers most South African financial institutions. Remaining legacy gaps at smaller institutions are being addressed. The regulatory framework supports further innovation including biometric verification. National system upgrades have been completed for banks, insurers and telecoms companies. Digital financial services are integrated with sector platforms.

Actions

Industry rollout is solid and interoperability is progressing as sector-standard. Incidents are addressed efficiently through the FSCA and SARB regulatory oversight frameworks.

Are there plans?

Yes:,annual compliance updates, inter-agency data reviews and periodic sector stress-testing are planned.

Is it on the agenda?

Yes. Digital infrastructure modernisation is a Cabinet and FSCA priority, included in the annual digital finance strategy and SARB digital resilience framework.

Goals

To ensure that South African financial institutions have robust digital identity verification including electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) systems. A related goal is to enhance the digital infrastructure needed to serve customers securely in an increasingly digital financial environment.

References

Departments / Govt Institutions

Department of Home Affairs National Treasury South African Reserve Bank (SARB)

Analyst: Tinashe Kambadza
Status: in-progress
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