Opportunities and challenges of open banking in South Africa

Abstract

There is much hype and speculation around the potential of open banking to increase financial inclusion and competition among incumbent banks in developed and developing economies (Plaitakis & Staschen, 2020 and Zeller & Dahdal, 2021). Mastercard has gone so far as to call it “the most transformational trend in banking since digitization” (Mastercard, 2020). The purpose of this study is therefore to assess the challenges and opportunities of implementing open banking in South Africa as well as potential frameworks for implementation. Further as the existing knowledge base for open banking is globally limited and predominantly focussed on developed economies, it is vital to publish information from the perspective of an emerging economy that is also one of the largest economies in Africa.