Good morning.
It is a pleasure to join you virtually today.
Thank you to the South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority for providing this platform to discuss priority financial sector issues facing South Africa today.
Last year I had the opportunity to visit South Africa to talk about financial health with government, the private sector, and every day South Africans.
Out of all the conversations I’ve had, one stands out most: my conversation with Namhla, an informal entrepreneur in Cape Town. Like many South Africans in the informal sector, she earns an irregular income, lacks a formal credit history, and relies on informal financial mechanisms. For a long time, this meant that the formal financial system simply did not see her.
Things changed for Namhla when she connected with the purpose-led fintech, Spoon Money. They helped her access affordable credit, build savings, and even begin investing. Spoon Money specifically works with informal entrepreneurs in South Africa. They understood her. Their products were tailor-made for her financial life, not for the standard financial client.
Namhla’s story shows what becomes possible when the financial system is designed around how people actually live and earn.
South Africa has one of the largest and most sophisticated financial sectors on the continent. Yet financial access has not consistently translated into strong household outcomes.
Recent data show that only 16 percent of adults are financially healthy. More than half of South African adults spend over 40 percent of their take-home pay on debt. And many are vulnerable to financial shocks.
Improving financial health is not only a social priority but a smart investment. It strengthens household resilience, supports sustainable consumption, and contributes directly to productivity and growth.
Over the last year South Africa has made progress on financial health, including efforts to strengthen confidence, integrity, and cross-border trust in the financial system.
I welcome the South African Reserve Bank’s work to open the National Payment System to fintechs and advance activity-based licensing. This will help boost responsible innovation.
I also commend recent decisions supporting interoperability and real-time payments, which will support financial health at scale.
Still, major challenges remain, including informality.
Around 30 percent of South Africa’s workforce operates informally. Nearly a quarter of adults collectively save billions of rand each month through stokvels, much of it outside the formal system.
Stokvels endure because they provide structure, discipline, and trust. Given the risks inherent in informal finance, how can we connect stokvels to the formal financial system so members can access a broader range of services and tools?
Bringing informal workers into the formal financial system can unlock opportunities for millions of South Africans.
Payments and alternative data can help institutions design affordable, flexible savings and credit products for people with irregular incomes.
Swift passage of the National Payment System Act and the COFI Bill will enable this innovation by opening the payments system and leveling the playing field between banks and fintechs.
As South Africa develops its next National Financial Inclusion Strategy, there is a timely opportunity to anchor financial inclusion efforts in financial health — aligning payments, savings, credit, and data reforms to help households manage the day-to-day finance, build resilience, and plan ahead.
Finally, I would encourage South Africa to consider a national coalition on financial health to pilot and scale solutions. We have already seen successful coalitions emerge in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia, bringing together regulators, government, financial institutions, employers, and consumer groups to drive change collectively.
Let me close where I began.
Financial health is about people. The real test of progress is whether Namhla’s experience can be scaled — changing the lives of informal workers, entrepreneurs, and stokvel members across South Africa.
I remain committed to partnering with you so that reform translates into lasting financial health for households, businesses, and the whole economy.
Thank you.