PayInc emerges as South Africa’s national payments utility

Automated clearing house and settlements hub BankservAfrica on Thursday announced a major refresh of the company’s brand, changing its name to PayInc to align itself with shifts in the local payments landscape.

The move goes well beyond a name change, however, and marks a significant shift in South Africa’s payments and fintech ecosystem that its backers hope could transform South Africa’s economy.

BankservAfrica’s role as an automated clearing house is shifting as initiatives like rapid payments platform PayShap, launched in 2023, are poised to become more central to the functioning of the economy.

“For decades, our name has served us well, but names are not just names, they are a signal of intent, and our current name no longer signals the clarity of that intent,” said PayInc CEO Stephen Linnell at an industry event in Johannesburg on Thursday evening.

“We are aligning ourselves with the future that we are looking to create, that being inclusive economic growth through digital payments. We believe that payments are not a by-product of a successful economy, but a precondition to it.”

The refresh follows the news earlier on Thursday that the Competition Commission has recommended the approval of its sale to the South African Reserve Bank from its previous owners, the commercial banks, led by Absa, FirstRand, Nedbank and Standard Bank.

National payments utility

The Reserve Bank earlier last month announced its intention to develop a national payments utility to make low-cost, rapid payments more widely available across the economy.

The rationale behind the creation of a payments utility, in spite of robust private sector efforts to digitise payments, comes from the observation that the adoption of digital payment rails, including PayShap, lags other emerging market economies such as India and Brazil.

The Reserve Bank identified cost barriers as the major inhibitor to adoption.

Read: What’s holding PayShap back in South Africa

According to Israel Skosana, chief product and scheme officer at PayInc, the brand change aims to align the company with its expanding role as a core player in South Africa’s financial ecosystem.

He said BankservAfrica has for the last 50 years played a “pivotal role” as a “quiet, stable utility” in the background, processing billions of rand in transactions.

With the shifting regulatory landscape and sweeping changes in global finance, PayInc’s role is shifting towards the epicentre of the economy, especially as non-bank players including fintechs, mobile operators and retailers enter the payments and settlements landscape.

“This isn’t about a new name; it’s about reimagining how we connect with South Africa’s financial ecosystem and how we show up for it in the future,” said Skosana. “Our new brand represents a change in how we think, how we speak and how we engage with our partners.”  — © 2025 NewsCentral Media

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