Mastercard has announced that South Africa will be its first market to benefit from real-time card payments. The company will enable acquiring banks in the country to process real-time card payments through Mastercard's product innovations, network enhancements, and strategic partnerships.
Mastercard has partnered with ACI Worldwide, a global payments technology provider, to help acquirers in South Africa adopt real-time transaction processing standards to facilitate this transition.
Bill Farris, Head of Issuing and Acquiring at ACI Worldwide, highlighted that this initiative will improve liquidity and enable faster access to funds, resulting in more seamless payment experiences for local customers and businesses.
By introducing new standards and solutions to accelerate transaction processing speed, Mastercard aims to support small businesses in South Africa with better cash flow and enable acquirers to manage liquidity more effectively.
Mastercard will introduce real-time clearing and more frequent settlement cycles to achieve this, enabling same-day payouts for South African merchants. Mastercard has also partnered with global payments technology provider ACI Worldwide to help acquirers in the country adopt real-time transaction processing standards.
This initiative is part of Mastercard's broader strategy to drive digital transformation in regions with high cash transaction rates, such as Africa. The company has been investing in partnerships with large telcos, mobile network operators, and e-commerce platforms like Amazon to digitise payment acceptance across the continent.