SA Digital Finance: Consumer Protection and Compliance Challenges Highlighted

Chanal Subramoney, group senior compliance manager at Yellow Card The growing adoption of digital financial services is reshaping how South Africans manage money, but it is also creating fresh consumer protection and literacy challenges, according to Chanal Subramoney, group senior compliance manager at Yellow Card. Subramoney's comments come as SA observed Money Smart Week , an initiative of the National Consumer Financial Education Committee (NCFEC), a body established by National Treasury and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority to co-ordinate financial literacy efforts across SA. The week ran from 24 to 30 August under the theme: “Money Smart: The Power of Possible” and featured independent activations across the country aimed at improving financial awareness. “Criminals are innovating as fast as the industry is, across every channel, which is exactly why consumer education has to keep pace,” Subramoney said. She noted that the rise of digital wallets, crypto-currencies and stablecoins has introduced unfamiliar terminology that scammers exploit. "We've seen hundreds of millions of rands lost by South Africans to fake investment schemes promising guaranteed crypto returns. These operations deliberately target the confusion around how digital assets actually work." Subramoney said the bulk of this harm occurs off licensed platforms, through fake apps, unregistered brokers and social media offers, which she described as "a useful signal for consumers" to exercise caution. She warned that not all stablecoins carry the same risk. Consumers should understand what currency or asset a stablecoin is pegged to, whether it is backed one-to-one by verifiable reserves, and whether the issuer is licensed and transparent. "A stablecoin from a regulated, audited provider and one from an anonymous issuer can carry very different risks, even if they look identical in an app," she said. Subramoney urged consumers to take three steps before using any new digital financial service: verify the provider on the FSCA's register, establish whether client funds are held separately from company assets, and understand the recourse process for complaints or losses. She added that any promise of guaranteed or unusually high returns should be treated as an immediate red flag. While digital tools offer genuine benefits such as lower fees, faster cross-border payments and greater access, Subramoney said being "money smart" means pairing curiosity with caution. "It means feeling confident enough to use those tools, while still asking who's behind them, how they're regulated and what protects you if something goes wrong."