Big change to EFT payments from South African banks next month

South African banks will implement a significant change to domestic electronic funds transfer (EFT), including credit payments and debit collections, to and from their closest neighbours.

The Common Monetary Area (CMA) regulators decided to discontinue processing electronic EFT payments and collections within the CMA from April 2024.

The Payments Association of South Africa is responsible for South Africa’s efforts to meeting this deadline. The CMA consists of South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini.

The CMA’s decision means South African account holders will no longer be able to make EFT payments to account holders in other CMA countries.

They will also not be allowed to receive EFT payments from other CMA countries unless they are initiated on a global banking channel.

This decision is part of regulatory adjustments to enhance the efficiency and security of cross-border financial transactions.

Processing of CMA EFT payments will be discontinued according to the following time frames:

• Monday, 15 April 2024 — The final day of processing domestic EFT, including credit payments and EFT debit collections, to and from Namibia.

• Monday, 9 September 2024  – The final day of processing domestic EFT, including credit payments and EFT debit collections, to and from Lesotho and Eswatini.

Absa said users who want to make payments to Namibia can use the SWIFT service available through its banking teams.

Nedbank explained that, in future, debit order collection processing will only be supported in-country.

“Debit orders collected from accounts within the CMA will have to be initiated from an account domiciled in Namibia, Lesotho, or Eswatini,” it said.

“This will require access to an in-country banking service to submit debit order collections and the receivables and billing processing accounts.”

Alternatively, these debtors can initiate payments from the respective CMA countries to companies using a cross-border service.

Standard Bank told clients who currently make EFTs to accounts in Namibia will no longer be able to do so from 10 April 2024.

“You will still be able to make EFT payments to Eswatini and Lesotho until September 2024,” it added.