SARB publishes QR+ Standard 1.2 for digital payments

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has published version 1.2 of the QR+ Standard under its Payments Ecosystem Modernisation (PEM) Programme.

This standard aims to enable interoperable digital payment initiation across various form factors, including QR codes, barcodes, and digital links, thereby not limiting itself to QR-based payments.

Its core objective is to reduce market fragmentation and provide a consistent, seamless payment experience for consumers and merchants.

By standardising presentation interfaces, QR+ seeks to lower complexity, reduce barriers to entry, and support broader financial inclusion.

Version 1.2 introduces targeted enhancements for integration with the PayShap payment rail.

This update features a new PayShap payload, enabling structured data exchange between the QR+ API and the underlying payment rail.

QR+ facilitates the transfer of standardised payment initiation data to the selected rail for transaction processing, rather than executing payments itself.

This strengthens alignment with domestic real-time payment capabilities and enables expanded use cases, including richer payer-presented experiences.

The standard will continue to evolve through ongoing industry participation.