South Africa's Competition Commission has recommended approval of Capitec's R400-million acquisition of payments fintech Walletdoc, subject to conditions designed to prevent anti-competitive behaviour. Capitec must open its proprietary Capitec Pay platform to rival payment service providers (PSPs) and treat the industry-shared PayShap instant-payments rail no less favourably than its own product. The deal places Capitec on both sides of the payments market — owning a rail that competitors depend on while also competing against them for merchant business. Walletdoc, founded in 2015, offers payment gateway, orchestration, and merchant acceptance services primarily for e-commerce. The Competition Tribunal must still formally approve the transaction before conditions take effect.
