South Africa plans free small ATM withdrawals and one shared network of 30,000 machines
The Reserve Bank wants every ATM unbranded and open to all, a national cash utility from March, and free low-value digital payments, to cut a cash bill of R88.5bn a year.
Pretoria — South Africa's Reserve Bank wants to make small ATM transactions free and turn the country's 30,000-plus cash machines into a single shared network, BusinessDay reports.
The plan
- One network: banks would "white-label" their ATMs so that any customer can use any machine for deposits, withdrawals and balance checks. A pilot is planned for January 2027, with the first machines expected by the end of 2027.
- Free small transactions: low-value ATM transactions would be free; the threshold has not been set.
- A national cash utility: owned by the Reserve Bank, from March 2027, to combine cash centres, transport routes and cash systems that banks and cash-in-transit companies now run separately. Cash centres run by SBV and Fidelity would move into it by mid-2027.
- Free small digital payments, and a standard QR+ code from November so that people such as car guards can accept payments without fees.
Why
Handling cash costs the economy about R88.5 billion a year, around 1.2% of GDP, and the poorest pay most: people earning up to R1,250 a month spend about 5% of their income on cash-related costs, against about 1% for those earning R20,000 or more. Cash is still used in 56% of consumer transactions. Branch and ATM closures have left "cash deserts" in rural and poorer areas.
Pradeep Maharaj, who heads the Reserve Bank's payments modernisation programme, said the cost of cash must fall by at least 30%, called the fee for using another bank's ATM a "disloyalty fee", and said cash is a public good, rejecting the idea of a fully cashless South Africa. The bank aims for 500 million PayShap instant payments a month by 2029, up from about 60 million now.
Source: BusinessDay, reporting by Royal Ibeh, 16 October 2026.
