Associate - Keith Smith Consulting - Payment System and Regulatory Specialist

An independent consultant since 2003, specializes in payment systems and is a consultant to a number of organisations within the banking and payment technologies industries as well as to a number of South African Government initiated projects.

Prior to establishing his own consulting firm, he served the South African Reserve Bank for thirty-seven years in all the major business areas of the Bank retiring as Head: Electronic Money in the National Payment System Department.  During the last eight years at the Central Bank, he was directly involved in researching emerging payment technologies, including the regulatory aspects of new innovative technologies such as the internet, smart cards and cell phones and, from a payments perspective, what benefits these new technologies could provide to South Africa as a whole.  A major part of his responsibilities included assessing how the utilisation of emerging technologies could make financial services more accessible to those in the low income, unbanked and rural communities.  In addition he consulted with the banking industry, technology companies and Government Departments, on various aspects regarding electronic payment solutions.  He was also tasked with chairing a number of forums established to facilitate interaction between the banking industry and key Government Departments and was a member of the South African Reserve Bank’s project team that assisted with formulating the anti money laundering regulatory framework in South Africa.

Over the past four years Keith has consulted in South Africa and internationally on numerous projects involved in investigating, developing and implementing payment systems.  Key projects include:

 

▫   Completion of Diagnostic Templates on the enabling environment for mobile banking and an analysis of the extent of transformational mobile banking in all SADC countries.

▫   Regulatory framework for the issuance of electronic money and prepaid stored value payment systems;

▫   Design and implementation of a debit card payment system including the back office account hosting system, transaction switching processes and the implementation of Automated Teller Machines and Points of Sale for a small South African bank;

▫   Development and implementation of a mobile banking and payment system for a South African bank;

▫   Review and quality control of a national survey on the Point of Sale infrastructure in South Africa.

▫   Business Analysis, conceptual design and a Strategic Framework for a National Payment System for the country of Lesotho.

▫   Implementation of a national debit card transaction switch and Card Processing Centre for the country of Azerbaijan.

▫   Responsible for the South African segment of a World Bank sponsored research and investigation into an enabling environment for mobile banking in Africa.

▫   Research into the regulatory readiness and drafting of a vision and project roadmap for the development of a mobile banking and payment system for the Republic of the Maldives.

▫   Conducting research into the feasibility of issuing a low value payment application in South Africa utilising contactless smart card technology.

▫   Negotiations with various banks on behalf of a client who wishes to establish an alliance banking relationship for the delivery of social grant benefit payments via an electronic banking payment channel.

▫   Consultant to the Technical Team of the South African Competition Commission enquiry into Competition in Banking

▫   Research into Branchless Banking Models in the Southern African Customs Union Countries.

▫   Conceptual design and Functional Specification for a prepaid payment product and Transaction Clearing House for South Africa’s Open Road Tolling Project

▫   Drafting of a Strategic and Regulatory Framework for the acceptance of a bank issued payment application based on contactless smart card technology for Electronic Fare Collection in public transport.

▫   Conceptual design and Functional Specification for a bank issued payment application for Electronic Fare Collection in Public Transport.