Strengthening a National Payments Compliance Platform at the Core of South Africa's Financial System

Customer Snapshot

Industry: Financial Services / Payments Infrastructure

Region: South Africa

Platform: CRAFT (Central Resource Allowing Focused Transparency)

Engagement Model:

• Long-term Product Partnership
• Dedicated Development Teams
• Platform Evolution & Maintenance

The Challenge

Operating at the core of South Africa’s national payments system, BankservAfrica and PayInc required a platform that could enforce compliance, reduce systemic risk, and scale across multiple payment streams - without compromising stability or regulatory trust.

Key challenges included:

Operating at national infrastructure scale

• Millions of transactions processed daily
• Strict regulatory oversight (SARB and industry bodies)
• Zero tolerance for instability, data errors, or downtime
• Complex coordination across banks, fintechs, and payment streams

CRAFT needed to act as a single source of truth across:

• Pre-onboarding and verification
• Central user and entity registration
• Ongoing monitoring and risk management
• Controlled exits when fraud or risk is detected

All while scaling across payment clusters such as EFT, PayShap, cards, and low-value debits.

Delivery model & procurement constraints

• Misalignment between capacity-based delivery and deliverable-driven procurement
• Tight banking change windows and monthly code freezes
• Increasing pressure to justify long-term contracts internally
• Growing expectations around transparency, reporting, and risk mitigation

The Goal

• Maintain stability and trust at national payments infrastructure level
• Scale CRAFT across multiple payment clusters and banks
• Improve delivery predictability under strict governance
• Reduce operational and compliance risk
• Prepare the platform for future commercialisation and innovation

Scrums.com Solution

Scrums.com partnered with BankservAfrica and PayInc as a long-term platform and delivery partner, combining product thinking, dedicated teams, and disciplined governance.

Key components included:

CRAFT as a lifecycle compliance platform

Designed CRAFT to support four critical stages:

• Pre-onboarding – vetting and verification
• Onboarding – central registration of user and entity profiles
• Monitoring – ongoing compliance, risk, and activity oversight
• Exit – controlled termination of payment relationships

This lifecycle model enables banks to retain sponsorship decisions while relying on BankservAfrica for verification, transparency, and risk intelligence.

Structured delivery with dedicated teams

• Dedicated Development Team aligned to CRAFT and API initiatives
• Embedded product and delivery management
• Multi-year maintenance agreement ensuring continuity and platform stability

This reduced onboarding churn, preserved institutional knowledge, and enabled predictable delivery in a regulated environment.

Proactive risk & governance frameworks

• Formal risk registers with ownership and mitigation plans
• Impact assessments for API and platform changes
• Executive-ready reporting to support internal approvals

Delivery shifted from reactive firefighting to controlled, auditable execution.

Scaling through APIs & multi-bank enablement

API initiatives enabling integration with major banks

• Standard Bank signed
• ABSA and Capitec showing intent

Shared onboarding and verification logic across institutions

Reduced duplication and faster time-to-market for new payment services

CRAFT evolved from a compliance tool into a strategic, ecosystem-wide enablement layer.

Preparing for the next phase (AI & SEOP)

• AI workshops focused on compliance, validation, and automation
• QA-as-a-Service (QAaaS) to strengthen testing capacity
• Introduction of SEOP for multi-team visibility, delivery analytics, and AI agents

Results

• Stable, secure operation of a nationally critical compliance platform
• Improved delivery predictability despite procurement and regulatory constraints
• Reduced operational risk through structured governance and risk management
• CRAFT adopted across multiple payment clusters and streams
• Strengthened BankservAfrica’s role as both regulator and ecosystem enabler
• Supported PayInc’s shift toward a more commercial, API-driven operating model
• NPS consistently 9–10 with strong long-term relationship trust

CRAFT now operates as a core digital backbone protecting South Africa’s payments ecosystem.

Why This Matters

For financial infrastructure providers, stability and trust are non-negotiable.

BankservAfrica and PayInc achieved:

• Long-term continuity in a highly regulated environment
• Scalable compliance without sacrificing control
• Clear delivery governance aligned to executive and regulatory needs
• A platform foundation ready for commercial expansion and innovation

This case demonstrates how national-scale platforms can modernise safely - without destabilising the systems they protect.

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Scrums.com helps financial institutions modernise critical infrastructure, reduce risk, and scale innovation.

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