Canva Adds Capitec Pay for South African Subscriptions

Canva customers in South Africa can now pay for subscriptions using Capitec Pay, an account-to-account payment method from Capitec bank. The companies announced the offering on Wednesday, September 2.

The move signals a shift in how global subscription businesses can reach South African consumers, according to a joint news release. The partnership directly addresses a major barrier: low credit card ownership.

Addressing a Payment Barrier

Card penetration in South Africa ranges between 8% and 10% of the adult population, based on data from the South African Reserve Bank and the World Bank. This limitation has historically restricted the reach of traditional card-on-file subscription models, excluding 44 million people in South Africa who do not own credit cards.

By contrast, one-third of adults in South Africa use Capitec's mobile app. Customers can approve a recurring payment once within the app, allowing businesses like Canva to collect future subscription payments automatically.

For Canva, going live as the first global merchant on this infrastructure is a removal of a structural barrier that was preventing a large portion of South Africans from accessing our platform at all, said Bianca Sibiya, Canva's Africa lead.

The EBANX Partnership

The ability to offer recurring payments through Capitec Pay is due to Canva's partnership with payment service provider EBANX. The company's commercial lead for Africa and the Middle East, Wiza Jalakasi, criticized the old model.

For years, card-based billing has been treated as the default model for global subscription products, but that default was built around consumer behavior in the United States and Western Europe, not South Africa, Jalakasi said.

Digital Bank User Readiness

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence and Trustly suggests digital bank customers are more comfortable with new payment experiences. They may be willing to move spending to different payment methods if given the right incentives.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report "Pay by Bank Deep Dive: Digital Bank Users Are Ready to Switch" found in January that discounts and buyer protection raise the number of transactions consumers said they would shift to direct-from-bank payments.

Digital bank users stood out across every category measured, from retail and groceries to bills and account-to-account transfers. These customers already rely on digital wallets and are accustomed to login-based payment experiences.