Canva partners with EBANX and Capitec Pay to offer cardless subscriptions to South African customers

Source: Content Co

Canva, the global visual communication platform, has become the first international company to offer recurring subscription payments to South African customers via Capitec Pay, the account-to-account payment method built by South Africa’s largest personal bank, Capitec. The milestone is made possible through Canva’s ongoing partnership with EBANX, a global technology company specialising in payment services for emerging markets.

The announcement represents a shift in how global subscription businesses can reach South African consumers. Credit card penetration in the country ranges between 8% and 10% of the adult population, according to the South African Reserve Bank and the World Bank. This limitation has historically restricted the reach of traditional card-on-file subscription models, excluding 44 million people in South Africa who do not own credit cards.

Instead of needing a credit card, Capitec Pay lets clients approve a recurring payment once in the Capitec app. After that, participating businesses can collect future subscription payments automatically. Canva is the first international subscription service to offer recurring payments with Capitec Pay.

Capitec is South Africa’s largest personal bank by customer base, with 26 million clients and over 16 million app users. According to Capitec, one in three South African adults uses its mobile app.

“For Canva, going live as the first global merchant on this infrastructure is a removal of a structural barrier that was preventing a large portion of South Africans from accessing our platform at all,” said Bianca Sibiya, Canva Africa lead.

The offering of recurring payments through Capitec Pay by Canva in South Africa is possible thanks to its partnership with EBANX, which helped enhance the solution and became the first global payment service provider (PSP) to integrate it into cross-border payment flows.

“For years, card-based billing has been treated as the default model for global subscription products, but that default was built around consumer behaviour in the United States and Western Europe, not South Africa,” explained Wiza Jalakasi, commercial lead for Africa and the Middle East at EBANX.

EBANX has become a leading enabler of recurring alternative payment methods (APMs) in cross-border digital commerce across the world. Including South Africa, the company supports recurring APMs across 12 emerging markets, enabling global merchants to reach more than one billion consumers, many of whom lack access to credit or debit cards.

“Capitec’s philosophy is to ensure that our clients experience simple, affordable and innovative services. Recurring payments through Capitec Pay is just one of the many ways we bring that simplicity to life, offering clients a payment experience they already know and trust. Through this partnership with Canva, we are expanding our trusted payment experience and giving clients access to international merchants in an accessible way,” said Francois Viviers, group executive of marketing and client experience at Capitec.

South Africa’s digital commerce market continues to grow rapidly, reaching 74% of adults and annual growth projected at 20% through 2028, according to Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence (PCMI) data analysed by EBANX. By that year, South Africa’s e-commerce market is expected to represent a $23 billion opportunity, based on PCMI insights featured in EBANX’s Beyond Borders study.

Further reading: EBANX integrates Capitec Pay to power cross-border Open Banking in South Africa