Wise wins approval to move money for South Africans
The Reserve Bank has formally appointed the money-transfer company as a limited foreign exchange dealer, nearly a year after conditional approval. No launch date has been set.
Taiwo Banjoko
Johannesburg — International money-transfer company Wise has been formally appointed a Category Two Authorised Dealer in Foreign Exchange with Limited Authority by the South African Reserve Bank, Techpoint Africa reports. The appointment was published in the Government Gazette on 2 October, and the Reserve Bank issued an exchange control circular on 5 October.
What it means
- The licence covers a limited range of foreign exchange business, including some transactions under the single discretionary allowance and remittances offered with external money-transfer operators.
- It does not automatically make every Wise product available in South Africa, and comes with reporting and compliance requirements.
- Wise has not yet announced when its own local service will launch.
Wise is known for showing its fees upfront and using exchange rates without large mark-ups, which could mean more competition for South Africans sending money abroad.
How it got here
- December 2025: Wise announced conditional approval from the Reserve Bank.
- April 2026: Capitec agreed to use Wise's technology for international payments from its customers' accounts, a separate arrangement.
- October 2026: formal appointment.
Source: Techpoint Africa, October 2026.
