South Africa has crossed a remarkable digital threshold. More than 50-million people are online, and 96.1% of households owned a mobile phone in 2024. That figure is almost certainly even higher in 2026. A decade ago, few would have predicted this level of connectivity.
However, while digital access has surged, one prediction has not materialised: the rapid disappearance of cash. In markets where we operate — including Kenya and Uganda — rising mobile penetration has driven exceptional mobile‑money adoption, yet cash usage remains persistently high. Digital solutions are clearly working, but many transactions people perform on their phones still start or end in physical cash.
In South Africa, while we have high levels of bank account ownership, it is estimated that up to 80% of consumers are dependent on cash to pay or receive payment. Even those who’ve fully embraced digital banking try to keep cash to tip the car guard and send instant money transfers for a family member to cash out.
At Standard Bank our digital clients in South Africa have grown significantly over the past three years, exceeding 4.5-million in the first half of 2025. Clients now perform 2.7 times more instant money transactions a month than they did five years ago. And each month, a new customer sends or receives a Standard Bank instant money transfer for the first time. Digital rails are clearly working. But at the end of many of these transactions, recipients still want physical cash and often withdraw it in full.
Why?
A large share of low-value, high-frequency transactions in townships, peri-urban and rural communities still happen in cash. Taxi fares, street vendors and local spaza shops in these ecosystems still rely on cash as the primary operating system. Having notes in hand determines whether clients can participate in the local economy. So we need to meet our clients where they choose to transact — whether it’s in a taxi when they need to pay their fares or in supermarkets where they feel more comfortable withdrawing cash than at a street ATM.
Among Standard Bank’s South African retail clients, ATM transaction volumes grew from 209.8-million in 2022 to 250.7-million in 2024. This trend, combined with rising digital transaction volumes, suggests that the rapid growth in digital banking and payments is creating new opportunities across the economy instead of displacing cash for everyday transactions.
It’s estimated that up to 60% of transactions in South Africa are still done in cash
It is estimated that up to 60% of transactions in South Africa are still done in cash. This shows that the country remains a hybrid economy, where access to cash is just as important as expanding digital connectivity.
Cash continues to be a fundamental enabler of both digital and financial inclusion. For financial institutions, the lesson is clear: inclusion cannot mean forcing a digital-only future on communities whose transactional ecosystems still depend on cash. True inclusion meets clients where they are.
At Standard Bank we are committed to supporting clients at every stage of their financial journey. We are investing in solutions that make it possible for clients to transact, deposit cash and store value electronically, anytime and anywhere. And by understanding how consumers earn and manage their money, we’re able to offer integrated financial solutions that span lending, insurance and investments. Our goal is simple: to empower growth through access, inclusion and opportunity.
Recognising this structural reality, Standard Bank made it easier for clients to access cash where they live and work by allowing them to use any ATM for the same fee. And in November 2025, we expanded our Instant Money Cashout network to more than 400,000 access points nationwide. Partnering with providers like OTT, Flash and Shop2Shop integrates cash access into communities that need it most. People who don’t have an ATM nearby are not forced to take a taxi to get cash when it arrives in their accounts — whether they are in Hammanskraal, Tzaneen or Tsolo in the Eastern Cape.
When these access points complement existing retail partnerships, it becomes more than distribution expansion. It is infrastructure redesign that is responding to real client behaviours at scale.
Activity in these community cashout points has more than doubled over the past two years, fuelled largely by smaller, more frequent remittances between family members. For many households, travelling long distances to withdraw these funds would have absorbed money meant for essentials. Availing cash withdrawals inside tuck shops and retail environments strips away these hidden costs. It makes financial inclusion practical rather than theoretical.
It answers a simple but meaningful question: can a grandmother in a rural village receive support and access it instantly? Can a family member in a city send money digitally and have it work physically on the other side? These are real needs that demonstrate that South Africa’s future is not cashless. Some parts of our country operate seamlessly in cashless environments, and giving them cashless branches makes sense. But equally, other parts of our society function frictionlessly with hard cash.
In summary, sustained investment in digital solutions is essential, but so is strengthening the cash infrastructure that millions still rely on. Digital platforms deliver speed, but cash provides a universally accepted way of paying in everyday exchange. South Africa needs both. The institutions that will lead are those that understand this duality and invest accordingly to bridge it.
- Govender is group head of personal banking at Standard Bank
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