SommaRedde

We digitise cash at the point of sale.

Cash costs South Africa about R90 billion a year, by the Reserve Bank's own estimate, and 20 million South Africans are unbanked or underbanked. The cost sits in everything cash triggers once it is accepted: counting, floats, cash-in-transit, deposit fees, shrinkage and the days between a sale and a banked rand. SommaRedde takes that leg off the counter.

The SommaRedde wallet: personal, merchant and corporate sub-wallets under one payment service provider, with a sponsoring bank holding the pool account and the float, settling into the National Payment System.
One wallet, one sponsoring bank, one pool account. Every rand on the rail sits inside the banking system.
R90 billion What cash costs the South African economy every year. South African Reserve Bank, Cash Smart Strategy position paper, 2026
20 million South Africans who are unbanked or underbanked, and pay in cash because accounts have not served them. South African Reserve Bank, Cash Smart Strategy position paper, 2026
R0 What a customer pays to pay from a wallet. The merchant rate sits below the cost of accepting cash or card. SommaRedde merchant terms

A neutral rail, not another bank.

We operate a neutral digital cash rail: an ecosystem of interoperable payment wallets clearing across one cloud platform, with all value held in a pool account at a sponsoring bank. We are not a bank and not a card scheme, and we compete with neither.

A customer pays from a wallet. The merchant is credited in real time, with finality. The money never leaves the regulated banking system. Cards, cash and the bank you already use keep working alongside it.

The rail: every wallet clears through the SommaRedde cloud platform, a sponsoring bank settles into the National Payment System, and the banks continue to serve the card and cash rails in their own right.
Every wallet clears through one platform. The banks continue to serve the card and cash rails in their own right.

Custody

Wallet balances sit in a ring-fenced pool account at a sponsoring bank, which settles into the National Payment System at each settlement window. The ledger, reconciliations and settlement reports are automated and available in real time.

Security

A PIN at every transaction, not only at login. Dual-factor authentication, role-based authorisation, public-key encryption, ISO 20022 messaging and full audit logging. A formal security pack is available on request.

Regulation

We operate within the National Payment System through a sponsoring bank, and personal information is processed in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act. Where we stand with the Reserve Bank.

The rail is built. The South African programme has been under way since January 2026.

Talk to Johan Burger, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer.

johanb@sommaredde.com