RMS to Registered Mandates: beyond just a technical upgrade

South Africa’s collection landscape is undergoing a significant transformation with the mandated shift from the Registered Mandate Service (RMS) to Registered Mandates (RM), effective 10 March 2025. 

This transition aims to modernise the country’s payment infrastructure, enhance security, and align with international banking standards. Businesses that currently rely on RMS for debit order collections must understand the implications of this change and take proactive steps to ensure continuity. 

What is RMS?

RMS was introduced as a temporary solution to facilitate debit order collections when consumer authentication via DebiCheck was not obtained. Under RMS, if a consumer fails to respond to an authentication request, the mandate can still be registered, allowing businesses to process collections without explicit customer approval. However, unlike DebiCheck collections, these transactions are fully disputable, meaning consumers can reverse payments by raising disputes with their bank. Despite this limitation, many businesses have benefited from high success rates on RMS due to these collections being processed in the early collection window. 

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is preparing to implement mandatory modernisation updates to RMS, introducing RM as a new payment rail in the South African National Payment System (NPS) and ultimately replacing the legacy non-authenticated EFT debit order payment method. Critically, RM collections will be processed in the late collection window, meaning businesses will need to enhance their DebiCheck authentication processes to maintain the advantages of early morning processing.

Registered Mandates: a modern solution 

The RM system offers a more dynamic, responsive, and transparent approach to payment processing with benefits for businesses and consumers. 

Flexible collection strategies

• Processed before EFT debits but after DebiCheck collections. 
• Mandates can be registered without prior authentication attempts, and can be registered against business and dual signatory accounts, expanding the scope of collections.
• Limited and full credit tracking for failed transactions.

Better payment status tracking

• Same-day payment collections and confirmation.
• Real-time credit tracking.
• Immediate feedback on transaction status.

Enhanced data standards

• Enhanced originator and recipient identification.
• Supports ISO20022 (a universal message exchange standard for payments across the globe)
• Improves traceability and reduces financial crime risks.

Reduced fraud

• Consumers can view and suspend unwanted mandates
• Consumers are notified of new mandates that have been registered

Understanding Registered Mandates 

While the RM payment method can still act as a fallback to failed DebiCheck authentications, merchants can also submit a RM request directly. RM will also be possible on business and dual signatory accounts, expanding the scope of collections. 

Mandates: 

• ^{Registered Mandates can be requested in real-time; the same DebiCheck authentication service windows apply.}  
• ^{The customer does not need to approve or allow a Registered Mandate request to expire to be valid for collection.} 
• ^{The issuing bank will notify the customer of the registration of a Registered Mandate against their account.} 
• ^{Customers can suspend Registered Mandates and prevent future collections from being made against their accounts.} 
• ^{Registered Mandates can be amended and cancelled by the merchant in real-time.} 

Collections:

• ^{Registered Mandate collections will be executed in the late window 19:00 SAST; the same DebiCheck collection service windows apply.}
• ^{Tracking for Registered Mandates will be run half day from 12:00 to 00:00 SAST; a maximum of 10 tracking days is permitted.} 
• ^{Timing of responses is action date by 23:00 SAST.}
• ^{Timing of settlement is action date + 1 by 05:00 SAST.}
• ^{Registered Mandate collections are disputable.} 
• ^{Registered Mandate collections may fail to process if the mandate was suspended by the customer or cancelled by the merchant.}

Registered Mandates can be upgraded to DebiCheck mandates by way of amendment with authentication via dual participant banks (both issuer and acquirer banks operating on both DebiCheck and RM). However, DebiCheck cannot support business accounts.

This transition arrives at a critical moment for South Africa's financial reputation. With the country working to address its Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey listing, the RM system represents a significant step towards international compliance and transparency.

What are the benefits and limitations of Registered Mandates? 

The new system brings significant advantages for consumers, fundamentally changing how they interact with their financial commitments. Account holders will gain visibility into their financial mandates and greater control over their transactions. The enhanced transparency of payment processes provides consumers with clearer insights into their financial obligations, whilst strengthening their protection against unauthorised debits.

However, the transition from RMS to RM presents several potential challenges for businesses:

1. Collection success rates: Late window processing may lead to lower success rates, as consumers might withdraw funds before RM debit orders are processed. 
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2. Increased disputability: Unlike DebiCheck collections, RM collections are fully disputable, requiring businesses to implement robust mandate management to minimise reversals. 
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3. Operational impact: Businesses must adapt their systems, processes, and reconciliation to align with the new RM framework. 

Practical implications for businesses reliant on RMS

From 10 March 2025, DebiCheck collections for RMS mandates can no longer be submitted on DebiCheck. Instead, they must be submitted on RM. South African banks are currently migrating RMS mandates to RM mandates to enable this transition. 

This change presents a challenge to businesses dependent on RMS collections and the impact of it needs to be assessed both technically and operationally. To start, businesses should evaluate their current reliance on RMS collections to quantify the potential impact. 

Read this guide to assess the impact of RMS deprecation on your business and learn how to prepare.