{"id":832700,"date":"2025-07-24T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=832700"},"modified":"2025-07-23T17:22:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T15:22:04","slug":"south-africans-saying-goodbye-to-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/technology\/832700\/south-africans-saying-goodbye-to-cash\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans saying goodbye to cash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africans are steadily moving away from cash, increasingly preferring digital payments where they can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This shift is being driven by convenience, choice, and the rise of omnichannel shopping experiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to Jason Sive, CEO of Mobicred and RCS Digital Executive, who said South Africa\u2019s digital economy is set to see exponential growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also added that the country is well-positioned to become a leader in cashless retail due to a combination of widespread smartphone usage, fast-moving fintech innovation, and an expanding e-commerce ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This shift is already reflected in consumer behaviour. Discovery Bank and Visa\u2019s latest SpendTrend25 report shows that 67% of surveyed South Africans use cash only a few times a month or not at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

80% say they prefer to use cards or digital payments whenever possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile many people still use cash for a myriad of reasons, largely out of habit, the prevalence of cash is losing its appeal,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The respondents noted that digital payments offer greater convenience, better rewards, and increased security, prompting more South Africans to leave their physical wallets behind in favour of digital ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sive noted that the shift is no longer just a trend but a strategic opportunity for economic inclusion and growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCredit providers, retailers and fintech innovators must accelerate the rollout of cashless payment options to deliver the frictionless customer experience that consumers expect,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data shows a growing confidence in digital payments even for higher-value transactions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to SpendTrend25, 93% of South Africans preferred digital channels for purchases between R100 and R3,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

99% opted for digital payments for transactions above R3,000. Cash was only used for smaller, everyday purchases of under R100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rising demand for digital experiences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Standard Bank has also reported a notable shift in customer behaviour. Since 2019, it has seen a significant drop in cash withdrawals and deposits, largely due to more people using digital banking services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank\u2019s app alone has experienced a 200% increase in transaction volumes, while personal customers’ cash deposits have fallen by 83% over the past five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trend of going cashless is also evident in the gradual decline in the number of bank ATM across South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent assessment by MyBroadband showed that the number of ATMs operated by the Big Four banks dropped by over 8,000 over the last five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standard Bank\u2019s total number of ATMs dropped by 3,759 to 5,562, Absa\u2019s by 3,518 to 5,138, FNB\u2019s by 1,010 to 4,770 and Nedbank\u2019s by 58 to 4,199.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data showed that Capitec is the only large bank growing its ATM network, increasing from 5,011 in 2019 to 8,798 in the latest figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Capitec is an exception, expanding its ATM network across South Africa, while its competitors continue to cut back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Discovery Bank\u2019s report highlighted, a large base of lower-income individuals still rely on cash for transactions more than other consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this, outgoing Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie said that the bank plans to add 800 new ATMs across South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, even as the bank expands its physical network, Fourie said that the bank prefers that its customer base move away from cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shift to digital payments is seen as more secure for the customer, decreasing the chances of fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that using cards and digital payments also gives Capitec more data on its customers\u2019 spending habits, which allows the bank to monitor usage patterns and inform research and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shift from cash to digital payments has already seen these transactions decline in number, but the transaction values are now far higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other data reports show that cash remains king in South Africa, with the acknowledgement that the landscape is changing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africans are moving away from cash for digital alternatives. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":826181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9878],"tags":[5623,12923,23208,23209,853,499],"class_list":["post-832700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-cash","tag-discovery-bank","tag-mobicred","tag-rcs-digital","tag-south-africa","tag-standard-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832700"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":832747,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832700\/revisions\/832747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}