Collecting payments for others: PASA and the SARB

Who oversees South Africa's payment system, what PASA does, why third-party payment providers register through their banks, and where your gateway fits.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in South Africa

Most businesses only ever receive money for themselves. A customer pays an invoice, the bank credits the account, and that is the end of it. But a growing number of South African businesses end up holding money that belongs to someone else: a booking platform that takes payment for guest houses, an agency that collects fees for the artists it represents, a marketplace that takes a customer's money and pays the seller later.

Once you collect payments on behalf of others, you have stepped into territory that the payment system's regulators care about. This article explains who oversees South Africa's payment system, what PASA does, why third-party payment providers register through their banks, and how an ordinary business's own online payments fit into the picture.

The SARB at the top

The South African Reserve Bank says it operates, regulates, supervises and oversees the national payment system. It draws that authority from law: the SARB says the South African Reserve Bank Act and the National Payment System Act 78 of 1998 empower it to oversee and regulate the national payment system and to manage all payment-related risks.

The government's summary of the National Payment System Act describes the Act's reach in similar terms: it provides for the management, administration, operation, regulation and supervision of payment, clearing and settlement systems in South Africa.

For a business, the practical meaning is simple. Moving money between people is not an unregulated activity. The rules about who may do it, and on what terms, come from the SARB and the bodies working under it.

PASA and the payment systems it manages

The SARB says the more than 18 payment systems in South Africa are managed by the Payments Association of South Africa, PASA, under the SARB's oversight. PASA runs the systems day to day; the SARB keeps watch over the whole.

Think of the structure in layers:

The SARB also keeps the system's future under review. It published a consultation paper on its National Payment System Vision 2030+ strategy on 24 February 2026, with comments due by 31 March 2026. Rules for participants may change as that work progresses, so check the SARB's pages rather than relying on older summaries.

Third-party payment providers register through their banks

This is the part that answers the question most businesses ask. The SARB says only banks may participate in its settlement system, while clearing system participants and payment system operators need authorisation from the Payment System Management Body, the role PASA plays. Third-party payment providers, it says, must register with that body through their banks.

So a business does not apply to the SARB directly to collect payments for others. The route runs through the bank that holds its accounts. If your business model involves receiving money that belongs to other people and passing it on, the first conversation is with your bank, and it should happen before you start collecting, not after.

Questions to take to that meeting:

• Do we receive money that belongs to someone else, even briefly?
• Do we pass payments on to sellers, suppliers or members after deducting a fee?
• Does the bank regard that as acting as a third-party payment provider?
• If so, what does registration through the bank involve, and how long does it take?

The SARB's payments and settlements page describes its oversight role, PASA's management of the payment systems, and who needs authorisation or registration.

Your own merchant account in Achekam

Many businesses that read this far will find they are not collecting for others at all. They are collecting for themselves, through an online gateway, and that is a different arrangement.

In Achekam, a workspace administrator enters the business's own payment gateway credentials in Settings under Payment Gateways & Checkout, and can test the connection with a real call to the gateway. For South African businesses, the gateway settings list PayFast, Ozow, Peach Payments, Stripe, Flutterwave, Paystack and direct bank EFT, each set up with the business's own merchant account.

The business can then e-mail an invoice with a pay link, through which its customer pays by the gateway the business has configured with its own keys, or by EFT. Achekam is not the merchant of record. The money moves between your customer, your gateway and your bank under your own agreements.

The payment then reaches your books without retyping. Payment is recorded only from the gateway's verified notification, a status query or a person's capture. A verified gateway payment is recorded as a receipt against the invoice, debiting that gateway's clearing account and crediting trade receivables, and the invoice shows as paid or part-paid. Bank EFT has no notification, so a person marks the invoice paid when the money shows on the bank statement. How the pay link works end to end is covered in online payments on invoices, and the card-security side in PCI DSS when you take card payments online.

Working out which side you are on

If the money your customers pay is yours, collected through your own gateway or bank account, your relationship is with that gateway and your bank. If some of the money is someone else's, and you hold it and pass it on, speak to your bank about third-party payment provider registration before you take the next payment. Getting that answer early costs a meeting; getting it late can cost the business model.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.