Quick answer

Real-Time Clearing (RTC) is BankservAfrica's older near-real-time credit service that moves low-to-medium value payments between banks in under 60 seconds. It pre-dates PayShap by more than a decade and remains in production today, though PayShap is gradually taking on the use cases RTC traditionally served.

What RTC is

RTC is a credit-only payment scheme operated by BankservAfrica. It accepts payment instructions from a sending bank, validates them, and credits the receiving bank's customer within roughly 60 seconds. The interbank net obligation settles in SAMOS at scheduled windows.

Where RTC is used

RTC's traditional use cases include urgent supplier payments, customer-to-business payments where same-day finality matters, and emergency person-to-person transfers where same-day EFT would arrive too slowly.

RTC vs PayShap

PayShap is newer, faster, supports proxy-based addressing (ShapID, phone number), and is positioned as a consumer instant-payment scheme. RTC remains operational and is still used, particularly by corporates and for higher-value urgent credits where PayShap's retail caps don't fit.

Future of RTC

Under Vision 2030+, RTC's role may gradually shrink as PayShap matures and as ISO 20022 messaging consolidates the instant-payment use case on a single rail. Concrete decommissioning timelines have not been published.

TL;DR

  • RTC = BankservAfrica's near-real-time credit service.
  • Sub-60-second customer experience; settlement at SAMOS windows.
  • Pre-dates PayShap by over a decade and remains in production.
  • PayShap is gradually absorbing many RTC use cases.

Frequently asked questions

Is RTC the same as PayShap?

No. They are different schemes. PayShap is newer, with proxy addressing and a retail focus.

How fast is RTC?

Under 60 seconds end-to-end for credit.

Is RTC being shut down?

Not in the short term, but its role is expected to shrink as PayShap matures.

Does RTC settle in central-bank money?

Yes — net obligations settle in SAMOS, which posts in central-bank money.

See also from our Ecosystem silo: South Africa's National Payment System (NPS) Explained and Clearing vs Settlement: What's the Difference?. For the foundations, return to the SAMOS homepage or browse the full Knowledge Hub.