Bank transfer
EFT bancaire: rail built, but not open
The South African EFT transfer is built but not open. Local exchange control requires reporting on cross-border flows, which we cannot handle without a licensed local partner.
- ZAR
- 1 country
- about 2 hours
- 0.50%
- Not open
Why this rail is not available
South African exchange control requires SARB reporting on cross-border flows. We will only open this rail with a licensed local partner.
The page stays published because the question comes up, and a clear answer beats an absence. It is not proposed for indexing: we do not send anyone to a page that cannot deliver the service they came for.
The rail in numbers
All these values come from the catalogue published on this site, and are republished as soon as our own measurements contradict them.
- Technical nature
- Bank transferBatch settlement, cleared at fixed times on business days. The delay comes from clearing, not from us.
- Settlement currency
- ZAR — South African RandIf this is not your account currency, your bank applies its own conversion on arrival. That cost does not go through us and does not appear in our breakdown.
- Settlement delay (p50 / p95)
- 2 h / 2 daysThe median describes the common case, the p95 the slow one. We show both: a median alone hides exactly what worries you.
- Operating window
- Business days onlyCut-off at 15:30. An order submitted after it goes into the next run, so the next business day.
- Min – max per operation
- ZAR 100.00 – ZAR 500,000Bounds belonging to the rail. An amount above the cap is split into several payouts, which multiplies any fixed fee accordingly.
- Rail fee
- 0.50%Its own line in the breakdown, next to the network cost and our spread.
- Coverage
- 1 countryLocal rail: the country carries its own information (identifier, limits, reporting framework), so each country gets its own corridor page.
- Data verified on
- 2026-09-02Date of the last manual review of this rail’s delays, limits and fields. Data not reviewed for a long time is suspect data, ours included.
How this rail actually works
The rail would go through domestic interbank clearing, on business days and with a late-afternoon cut-off. It is not an instant rail.
In the meantime South Africa is served by international wire. The fixed SWIFT cost makes the operation questionable below a few hundred dollars.
What makes the delay
This rail depends on business-day clearing, with a 15:30 cut-off. An order placed just after waits for the next run: that is what explains a p95 of 2 days, far above the median. On a Friday afternoon that often means arrival on Monday.
Details required from the beneficiary
Every field is validated as you type, with the same rule client-side and server-side. That is what prevents most rejected payouts.
| Field | Type | Required | Validation rule | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account holder name | Text | Yes | 2 to 140 characters · edges trimmed | Must match the name verified on your ID exactly. A mismatch gets the transfer rejected. |
| Bank | Select | Yes | 6 possible values | — |
| Account number | Text | Yes | 6 to 13 digits · digits only kept | — |
| Branch code | Text | Yes | exactly 6 digits · digits only kept | — |
- Bankaccepted values
- Absa, FNB, Standard Bank, Nedbank, Capitec, TymeBank
The rules shown are the ones actually enforced: there is no “marketing” version of this table differing from the code.
Countries where this rail can pay you
Each country page ranks the rails available there by delay and adds the local reporting framework.
What is available instead
Same geography, rails open today.
Keep going
The catalogue’s three entry points lead to the same place by different routes.
Why we keep this page online
A closed rail nobody mentions looks like an oversight. A documented closed rail, with its exact reason and what is missing to open it, gives you the answer in one read — and saves you from creating an order that would go nowhere.
Frequently asked questions about EFT bancaire
How fast does EFT bancaire credit my account?
about 2 hours in half the cases, and up to 2 days in the slowest ones. This rail only runs on business days, with a 15:30 cut-off: an order after that leaves the next business day. These are market orders of magnitude, not a contractual commitment.
What are the minimum and maximum amounts on EFT bancaire?
Between ZAR 100.00 and ZAR 500,000 per operation, in South African Rand. These bounds belong to the rail itself. An amount above the cap is split into several payouts, which multiplies any fixed fee accordingly.
What does a EFT bancaire payout cost?
0.50% for the rail itself. That amount appears as its own line in the breakdown, next to the network cost taken from your deposit and our spread. The lines sum to exactly the gap between the mid-market value and what you receive.
What do I need to provide to receive on EFT bancaire?
4 fields: Account holder name, Bank, Account number, Branch code. Every format is validated before the order is accepted, not at send time: a typo is flagged immediately, not three days later as a rejection.
Which assets can I sell to EFT bancaire?
0 assets are offered on this rail. The asset does not change how the rail works: it changes the confirmation time before the payout leaves, and the spread applied depending on whether the asset is stable or volatile.
Any pitfall to know about EFT bancaire?
In the meantime South Africa is served by international wire. The fixed SWIFT cost makes the operation questionable below a few hundred dollars.