Actively advance innovation and new ways of working

Collaboration catalyses innovation. The Innovation Accelerator exists to provide a collaborative, exploratory environment for financial sector regulators to learn from and work with each other – and the broader financial sector ecosystem – on emerging innovations in the industry.

Fintech in South Africa

Access the IFWG "Fintech Scoping in South

Africa" report

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Innovation Accelerator initiatives

Open Finance

The aim of this initiative is for the IFWG members to consolidate views and share information on their respective activities related to open banking. The IFWG Open Finance Integration Working Group has been established to collaborate on unpacking the policy and regulatory implications of open finance in South Africa and serve as a mechanism to ensure alignment between the different regulators.
Read the IFWG Paper on articulating the policy rationale and policy imperatives for Open Finance in South Africa here

Financial Markets Innovation

The main project under this initiative is Project Khokha, which was initiated in 2017 to collaboratively explore the policy and regulatory implications of digital financial services innovation, particularly that driven by distributed ledger technology (DLT).
Read about Project Khokha 1, conducted in 2018, our trial of a DLT-based wholesale payment system here. Project Khokha 2 explored tokenisation in financial markets, though the trading, clearing settlement of a debenture on DLT. Read more in the full report, issued during April 2022, here or summary report here. The 2022 workplan includes further analysis of the policy and regulatory implications of tokenisation.

Crypto Assets

The crypto assets market has experienced significant interest from various stakeholders including regulatory authorities. The objective of this initiative is to develop a revised jurisdictional policy position on crypto assets that will assist in the development of a comprehensive regulatory framework.
Read our latest IFWG CAR Working Group Position Paper on Crypto Assets here.
Watch Hub Talks Ep01: Crypto Assets Position Paper with Anrich Daseman here.

BigTech in Fintech

Large technology companies are rapidly introducing financial products and services. The objective of this initiative is to gain a deeper understanding of BigTech activities in the domestic and global market, assess the impact on the financial system and review the existing regulatory framework to assess if it sufficiently covers the risk and implications.
Watch Hub Talks Ep 04: BigTech in Fintech with Jon Frost and Joseph Noss here.
Check out this infographic on BigTech in Fintech here.

Fintech Scoping in South Africa

The objective of this initiative is to develop a public digital database of fintech firms in South Africa. This database will enable fintech firms to update their information and provide the broader market with access to a current inventory of fintech firms in the country.
Read the October 2019 Fintech Scoping in South Africa Report here.

Digital Platforms

The objective of this initiative is to build an understanding around digital platform practices and activities within financial services. These learnings will inform the development of a regulatory framework for digital platform-based financial services in South Africa.

Regtech and Suptech

The objective of this initiative is to gain a deeper understanding of regulatory and supervisory technologies (regtech and suptech).
To do this, research will be conducted on local and global regtech and suptech offerings and practices and recommendations will be drafted to enable implementation of leading regtech and suptech practices in South Africa.

Non-traditional Data

The objective of this initiative is to better understand leading practices regarding the use of non-traditional data (e.g., mobile phone data, etc.) in the provision of financial services.
Based on these learnings, we will develop a position to enable the implementation of a regulatory framework, guidance, or standards on the use of non-traditional data in financial services in South Africa.

Disclaimer

Actively advance innovation and new ways of working​

Actively advance innovation and new ways of working