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.

Due to rapid advances in digitalization, retail banks are facing increasing client demand for hyper-personalised products and services. However, financial institutions must navigate a myriad of laws and regulations to ensure that in the process of creating hyper-personal solutions for their customers, they are not breaching their privacy.