In Sandton City, Johannesburg's richest shopping district, you are never far from a cash machine. A few kilometres away in Alexandra township, finding one is much harder. South Africa's central bank says that gap is a problem, and it wants to change how every ATM in the country works.
At a media briefing on October 16, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) proposed turning the country's more than 30,000 ATMs into a single shared, unbranded network, with transactions below a set amount free for everyone.
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"We are asking banks to white-label all ATMs," said Pradeep Maharaj, who leads the Reserve Bank's Payments Ecosystem Modernisation programme.
What the Reserve Bank is proposing
Under the plan, reported in detail by TechCentral, bank-owned ATMs would move into a new national cash utility wholly owned by the Reserve Bank. Every machine would allow deposits, withdrawals and balance checks for any bank's customer, and small transactions would be free. The threshold has not been set.
The Reserve Bank also wants to end the so called disloyalty fee that customers pay when they use another bank's machine, often because their own bank's ATM is out of order.
Why cash is costing South Africa so much
Cash still makes up 56% of consumer transactions by volume, according to the Reserve Bank. Arif Ismail, head of its national payment system department, said about R180 billion in cash is in circulation and it costs roughly R90 billion a year to manage, transport and secure, costs largely passed on to consumers.
The burden falls hardest on the poor. People earning up to R1,250 a month spend about 5% of their income on cash related costs, compared with about 1% for those earning R20,000 or more. As more people pay digitally, fixed costs are spread over fewer cash transactions, and branches and ATMs in rural and low income areas close first. Maharaj said the cost of cash must fall by at least 30% just for the system to stand still.
The plan sits within the Reserve Bank's Cash Smart strategy, which also pushes cheaper digital options such as PayShap and a standard QR payment code due in November.
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The timeline, and the banks' pushback
The proposal is not final. Banks have come back with alternative models, and the Reserve Bank has promised to respond in November. Maharaj said he expects tough talks with the banks and stressed that banks are not being targeted.
If it goes ahead, the schedule reported by TechCentral and Zawya looks like this:
- January 2027: white-label ATM pilot begins
- March 2027: national cash utility set up
- Mid 2027: private cash centres start moving into the utility
- End of 2027: first white-label ATMs roll out in phases
What this means
For South Africans, the promise is simple: use any ATM, pay nothing for small withdrawals, and find machines in places banks have abandoned. For banks, it means giving up branded ATM networks they have spent decades building, which is why the November talks matter.
For the rest of Africa, this is one to watch. Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana face the same mix of high cash use, costly cash logistics and ATMs clustered in wealthier areas. If South Africa shows that a shared ATM network run by the central bank can cut costs and reach poorer communities, other regulators will take notes.
South Africa is treating ATMs as shared public infrastructure, not a bank perk. If the plan survives the banks' pushback, cash could get cheaper for the people who rely on it most.
