The annual Cards & Payments Africa conference, held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, has established itself as the premier gathering for the continent's payment industry professionals. This year's edition brought together over 1,500 delegates from across the payment value chain — banks, payment processors, technology providers, regulators, and card manufacturers — for three days of presentations, panel discussions, and intensive networking.
Cardzgroup Africa was proud to exhibit at this year's event, and we came away energised by the conversations we had and the industry trends we observed. Here are the key themes that dominated the conference.
Contactless Payments Take Centre Stage
If there was a single dominant theme at Cards & Payments Africa 2016, it was the accelerating momentum behind contactless payment technology. Visa and Mastercard both used the conference to announce expanded contactless rollout plans for the African market, and several banks revealed upcoming contactless card launches. The presentations were backed by compelling data from mature contactless markets — Australia, the UK, and Poland — showing dramatic increases in transaction frequency once contactless is introduced.
The conversation has clearly shifted from "whether" to "when" contactless will become mainstream in South Africa. The remaining questions centre on infrastructure readiness (how many POS terminals currently support contactless?), consumer education (will South Africans trust tap-to-pay?), and the business case for issuers (do the higher card costs justify the expected increase in transaction volume?).
Financial Inclusion Through Innovation
Multiple sessions focused on the intersection of card technology and financial inclusion. With hundreds of millions of Africans still outside the formal financial system, the conference explored how card products can serve as on-ramps to financial services. Prepaid cards, agency banking cards, and government-to-person (G2P) disbursement cards were all highlighted as mechanisms for reaching the unbanked.
The discussion was nuanced, acknowledging that in many African markets, mobile money has already achieved the financial inclusion that card-based systems have struggled to deliver. The emerging consensus is that cards and mobile money are complementary rather than competing — a mobile money wallet linked to a physical card gives users the best of both worlds: the convenience and reach of mobile money with the universal acceptance of a card on the global payment network.
Security in the Spotlight
With card fraud remaining a significant concern across the continent, security was a recurring theme throughout the conference. Presentations covered the latest in tokenisation technology, biometric authentication (including fingerprint-on-card and behavioural biometrics), and the ongoing work by EMVCo to strengthen the chip card security framework.
South Africa's card fraud statistics, while improving since the EMV migration, still show concerning levels of card-not-present fraud — a trend that mirrors the global experience as criminals migrate from card-present to online channels. The industry's response, including 3D Secure 2.0 and network-level fraud detection powered by machine learning, was discussed in detail.
Partnerships and Conversations
For Cardzgroup Africa, the conference provided invaluable opportunities to strengthen relationships with existing clients and establish new connections. Our exhibition stand showcased our full product range — from standard PVC cards to premium metal card samples, from hotel key cards to dual-interface banking cards — and the response from delegates was overwhelmingly positive.
We held productive meetings with banking executives exploring new card programme launches, hospitality groups planning lock system upgrades, and government agencies evaluating card technology for citizen identification and social grant disbursement. Several of these conversations have already progressed to formal engagement, and we are excited about the partnerships that will emerge from this year's event.
The Competitive Landscape
The conference floor also provided a clear picture of the competitive dynamics in Africa's card manufacturing market. The global card manufacturers — Gemalto (now Thales), IDEMIA, Giesecke+Devrient — maintain a strong presence, particularly in the banking card segment. However, there is growing recognition among African card buyers that the traditional model of sourcing from European manufacturers comes with premium pricing and long lead times that may not be justified when high-quality alternatives exist.
Cardzgroup Africa's positioning — global manufacturing capability backed by local African expertise and support — resonated strongly in this context. The ability to offer the same chip platforms, the same security features, and the same quality certifications as the European majors, at competitive pricing and with responsive African-based customer service, is a proposition that the market clearly values.
Looking Ahead
As we reflect on Cards & Payments Africa 2016, the overriding impression is of an industry in confident growth. Africa's payment ecosystem is maturing rapidly, and the demand for physical card products — far from declining in the face of digital alternatives — is actually accelerating as new use cases and new markets come online. We look forward to returning next year, with an even broader product portfolio and an even deeper understanding of our continent's diverse card requirements.