Modernisation Research

During 2017 a research initiative was initiated to understand international modernisation initiatives, the drivers of the initiatives and how each jurisdiction aimed to achieve each of the goals by prioritising certain initiatives. In parallel, research was conducted into the South African economy, its unique challenges as well as recommendations for an approach towards modernisation in South Africa. The research highlighted the need for more than just an upgrade of the existing message standards to ISO20022 in order to truly achieve the full spectrum of the goals of modernisation. Taking this into account, the industry agreed focus efforts on establishing a target state architecture for the future payments landscape. Efforts to establish the target state architecture commenced in January 2018 under the name “Project Future” and through a strategy deduction and business architecture process, a concept for the future payments system has been developed and is under review. The concept aims to achieve the goals set out by the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) Vision 2025 policy document as well as key industry goals.