The South African Reserve Bank has recently issued a directive concerning issuing and acquiring domestic card transactions. The Directive introduces regulations for all card issuers, card acquirers and domestic merchants regarding card issuing, acquiring and acceptance services for domestic card transactions. The Directive aims to ensure that the provision of domestic card payment services does not endanger the National Payment System, and for this reason, the SARB requires domestic card issuers to be domestic clearing system participants and requires that domestic merchants use local card acquirers.

Investors in Africa face an increasingly complex business environment, with numerous geopolitical and economic risks to consider, as well as having to comply with varying legal requirements across the continent. There is no denying that doing business in Africa in the current economic and political climate is difficult, and this…