R194 billion Capitec partner eyes South African expansion

Wise is seeking a country manager in South Africa after securing conditional regulatory approval to offer some services in the continent’s biggest economy. 

The money-transfer company is hiring a Johannesburg-based leader to manage regulatory and licensing processes, identify opportunities for its products in the region, and execute its expansion strategy, according to a job posting.  

While Wise declined to comment on the role, the approval “marks a significant step in our mission to give South Africans access to a faster, cheaper, more transparent way to send money abroad,” said Wise’s director for banking and expansion, Nadia Costanzo.

The plan to hire follows the South African Reserve Bank’s moves to reform the National Payment System.

These reforms include allowing non-bank financial services companies and fintech firms to directly access the payments infrastructure, thereby boosting innovation and competition.

At the same time, insurers, retailers and telecommunications firms are moving into banking to monetise existing customer relationships and create new revenue streams in a sluggish economy.

In December, Wise said it secured its first regulatory approval on the continent after South Africa’s central bank conditionally authorised a licence to handle travel-related transactions.

It can also process the annual prescribed allowance that South African residents may spend offshore without a tax clearance certificate and offer remittance services.  

The London-based company’s Wise platform, which allows banks and other businesses to use its infrastructure for transfers, recently partnered with Capitec to “power” the South African lender’s international-payments offering.