{"id":864331,"date":"2026-06-23T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=864331"},"modified":"2026-06-23T10:07:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T08:07:02","slug":"say-goodbye-to-atms-as-you-know-them-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/864331\/say-goodbye-to-atms-as-you-know-them-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Say goodbye to ATMs as you know them in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has proposed a major change to South Africa&#8217;s ATM system, aiming to end branded ATMs nationwide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This will see the rollout of white-label ATMs that are independent and not part of the nation&#8217;s traditional bank-owned ATM infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>White-label ATMs are independently owned machines\u2014not tied to a specific bank\u2014that allow customers from any bank to withdraw cash and transact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The SARB has released a Position Paper on Cash in South Africa, which outlines three primary objectives for cash: reducing costs, ensuring equitable access, and securing physical currency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Reserve Bank said that these objectives reveal that market forces alone cannot guarantee universal access, cost efficiency or system-wide resilience as commercial incentives evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The framework sets a sector-wide standard applicable to banks and non-bank service providers, such as cash-in-transit operators, retailers, and ATM deployers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Reserve Bank said that while digital payments are rising, cash remains essential for over two-thirds of transactions, especially in rural areas, informal markets and lower-income households. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its data shows that about half of the cost of cash is carried by consumers, working out to around R89 billion per year, via the following direct and indirect costs: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Explicit fees (35%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Time spent travelling to access cash (31%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Accessing cash (14%) <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Losses that include crime (13%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The sourcing of cash from retailers (4%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Opportunity costs of holding cash (3%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The SARB&#8217;s analysis shows that retailer cash back at the point of sale is the most efficient way for consumers to access cash, as it leverages existing retail infrastructure and high transaction volumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the SARB said that the higher the transaction volume, the lower the unit cost, which can be seen with ATMs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It added that while bank branches are essential for high-value transactions and deposits, they are less efficient compared to ATMs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;ATMs, especially those operated by banks, are a more cost-effective channel for cash transactions, as opposed to bank branches,&#8221; the SARB said. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SARB-CASH-Cost.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"438\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SARB-CASH-Cost-1024x438.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-864342\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SARB-CASH-Cost-1024x438.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SARB-CASH-Cost-300x128.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SARB-CASH-Cost-768x329.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SARB-CASH-Cost.jpeg 1344w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: The South African Reserve Bank<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">ATMs are changing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The SARB said that the Cash Smart Strategy responds by broadly expanding cash accessibility via measures such as establishing a regulatory framework for the expansion of white-label ATMs<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This would be done via a national cash utility, licensing non-banks to enhance access to wholesale cash. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It will also review the notes held on facilities that the SARB makes available to the financial industry, with the goal of enhancing their effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>White-label ATMs are recognised under the strategy as a central access mechanism for sustaining cash availability, especially as traditional bank-owned ATM infrastructure is rationalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Reserve Bank said that white-label ATMS are envisaged as part of the &#8220;utility-coordinated access layer that facilitates geographic rebalancing.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It will also improve reach to underserved areas and reduce the time and travel costs borne by cash-reliant travellers <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The position paper does not constitute a binding regulation; rather, it sets out a policy rationale that will guide the development of detailed regulation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The SARB said that the detailed deployment, funding and operational arrangements will be addressed via a regulatory framework and supporting instruments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;These measures will have an impact on the indirect cost of time and the direct cost of travel for consumers, which together make up about half of the overall cost of cash,&#8221; it said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SARB Deputy Governor Rashad Cassim told BusinessTech that the cash management strategy is in its early stages, with more work completed in the digital payments space, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/842706\/reserve-bank-officially-buys-huge-chunk-of-53-year-old-company-in-south-africa\/\">PayShap<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Position-Paper-on-Cash-in-South-Africa.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Position Paper on Cash in South Africa.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-1964b477-d77a-4dd0-958a-60da31eed1a7\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Position-Paper-on-Cash-in-South-Africa.pdf\">Position Paper on Cash in South Africa<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Position-Paper-on-Cash-in-South-Africa.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-1964b477-d77a-4dd0-958a-60da31eed1a7\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The South African Reserve Bank has outlined ambitious plans to change South Africa&#8217;s cash management, which includes the rollout of white-label ATMs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":864348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[5621,3619],"class_list":["post-864331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-atms","tag-sarb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864331","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864331"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864354,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864331\/revisions\/864354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}