Multinational payment authorisation services giant Visa launched its first data centre in South Africa on Wednesday. The build forms part of Visa’s R1-billion commitment to investments in Africa.

According to Michael Berner, country manager for Southern and Eastern Africa at Visa, the launch is aimed at improving Visa’s services in South Africa and also forms a foundation the company will use to drive its expansion into the African continent. The new data centre is located in Johannesburg, though its exact location and size is not being disclosed for security reasons.

“When we started in South Africa 30 years ago, we didn’t really think about building infrastructure here. But over time our business has grown tremendously, and the number of transactions continues to grow,” Berner told attendees at a launch event.

“The data centre here is not just for South Africa; it is a platform for our growth on the African continent. We continue to see Africa as a growth engine and we are happy to announce our pledge to invest a R1-billion into the continent,” said Berner.

Berner said South Africa’s payments landscape is digitising rapidly, with more than half of the transactions processed by Visa facilitated by contactless payment technology.

Berner described Africa as of “significant importance” to the global economy. Part of Visa’s R1-billion investment will be channelled towards job creation and support for entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises.

Tim Masela, outgoing head of the national payments system at the Reserve Bank, said Visa’s investment in local infrastructure will bolster the regional financial integration efforts of policymakers, financial institutions and central banks.

AI payments

“It is our view that the infrastructure that has been put up will be enjoyed by the South African community. But in conversations that we have in the regional and continental sphere, we believe that this infrastructure will drive greater integration in the region and the continent,” said Masela.

Visa’s Berner said South Africa is central to technological innovation on the continent, and the data centre will allow the company to provide state-of-the art technological solutions – including generative AI-enabled payments – to South African financial institutions and their customers.