Pradeep Maharaj is the COO of SARB, responsible for its support services cluster, including the Human Capital and Operations clusters.

Appointed when the position was first created in 2012, he has extensive experience in the role, including overseeing the bank’s financial, business systems and technology, and facilities management functions.

Previously, he was the Group Executive: Currency Cluster at SARB, responsible for the Bank’s currency management and security functions, overseeing the South African Bank Note Company and South African Mint.

Jan Pilbauer has over 15 years of experience in the payments industry, consistently delivering impactful national initiatives and transformations.

Currently the CEO of Al Etihad Payments, he leads the team transforming and modernising the UAE payments ecosystem, including Aani, its new instant payments platform.

Before that, Jan was the CEO at BankservAfrica, Africa’s largest clearing house, where he implemented key initiatives, such as PayShap, South Africa’s domestic instant payments scheme.

As Executive Director and Chief Information Officer at Payments Canada, he contributed to Canada’s payments modernisation journey.

Jan is passionate about financial technology and inclusion and continues to make significant contributions to the global payments industry.

Currently, Vukile Davidson is responsible for coordinating both regulatory and public policy issues regarding the safety, soundness and integrity of the financial sector.

He has also contributed to various key financial sector reforms, including South Africa’s resolution framework and policy issues as diverse as climate change and financial innovation.

Previously, Vukile worked at the Financial Stability Board in Basel, Switzerland on topics such as the challenges facing SMEs and the decline in correspondent banking services, specifically focusing on the Americas, Middle East and North Africa, and Asia.

Vukile holds an MSc in Development Economics and Finance from the University of London.

Ghita Erling has over 24 years of experience in corporate and retail banking, transactional banking and payments.

Currently, she leads PASA, the industry body mandated by the South African Reserve Bank to assist it in managing the country’s National Payment System.

Ghita has been instrumental in working with the broader South African payments industry to design the Payments Industry Body, an inclusive body for all payments community entities, which will ultimately replace PASA.

Previously, she was responsible for building and operationalising the payments function for the Discovery Bank startup. She has served as a director on the boards of BankservAfrica and SBV Services.

At SARB, Arif Ismail directs payment product strategies for the Payments Ecosystem Modernisation programme.

Previously, he served as Deputy Division Chief in the Payments and Infrastructure Division at the IMF, co-leading efforts on payments, financial market infrastructures and digital money matters.

Arif is passionate about digitalisation's impact on society and how it can enhance social welfare while mitigating risks to both domestic and international monetary systems.

Arif holds a BSc in mathematics and physics, a PhD in business administration and management from GIBS, and a DBA in strategic leadership and transformation. His interests include change management, complex adaptive systems, psycho-social cognition and leadership theory.

Leo Lipis is the founder of Lipis Advisors and has 25 years of experience in payment systems management, consulting and research on all six continents.

Prior to launching Lipis Advisors, he held positions in payments strategy and analysis with commercial banks, clearing houses and central banks.

Leo works chiefly in transaction banking, payment system strategy and design, and treasury management.

He has led numerous studies on payment system functionality, covering all types of payments in over 70 countries.

Under his leadership, Lipis Advisors has completed engagements for over 200 clients on a wide range of subjects across the payment spectrum.

Lyle Horsley is the head of fintech at the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and currently serves as the chairperson of the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) in South Africa. In her current role, areas of focus include crypto assets; open finance; central bank digital currencies; artificial intelligence and tokenisation, and advancing practical explorative projects to understand the policy and regulatory implications of emerging technologies for the financial sector.

The SARB’s Fintech Unit also co-leads the IFWG’s Innovation Hub, made of the regulatory guidance unit, the regulatory sandbox and the innovation accelerator.

Lyle is an admitted attorney and conveyancer in SA and obtained her LLM (cum laude) from the University of Witwatersrand. Previously, Lyle worked as a lead policy specialist at the Prudential Authority and clerked for the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.

She successfully completed the Cambridge Open Banking and Finance for Regulators Online Programme and the Cambridge SupTech Lab Innovation Leaders Programme, through the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Cambridge Judge Business School.

Brad Gillis has over 25 years experience in payments and financial services. His portfolio covers over 20 countries across Africa. He also leads the Remittances Domain for Standard Bank.

His broad expertise includes national and regional high and low-value payment and EFT systems, cards, wallets and remittances, payments association participation, and collaboration with various industry role players, including central banks across the continent.

Brad has authored several research articles on payments and transactional banking in South Africa and African markets and regularly presents at payment and financial services conferences.

Before joining Standard Bank, Brad was CEO of BankservAfrica’s Regulated Business.

Vickey Ganesh is an international payments practitioner with 26 years of experience in strategy and solution formulation.

He has worked in corporate roles and as a private consultant to commercial banks and payments stakeholders.

Vickey has excellent insight into national and regional interbank settlement schemes, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

He has been responsible for large-value payment systems in technology and payments operations, focusing on the design and build of domestic and cross-border payments and settlement capabilities with various central banks.

Through these advanced projects, he has contributed to the industry book of knowledge on domestic and regional payments, benefiting the entire industry.

Dave Glass is an expert in all aspects of enterprise payments systems, and value-added services distribution. He has over 20 years of industry experience, gained from working in Australia, Ireland and South Africa.

An entrepreneur at heart, Dave has played a key role in growing Electrum into a highly respected leading cloud payments technology company in South Africa.

His extensive work history has been exclusively focused on digital technology relating to banking and finance, retail, and mobile payments acceptance.

Dave holds a Master’s degree in Management Information Systems from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

Herman Singh brings a unique mix of business, technology, leadership, academic and creative expertise to the stage.

For almost 25 years, he has served in director-level roles, either directly or as an advisor. His experience covers a wide range of industries, including cellular communications, digital technologies, banking, financial services, and more.

He is currently a professor in practice at the University of Johannesburg Business School, and an adjunct professor at both UCT’s Graduate School of Business and Duke University, USA.

Through Future Advisory, Herman helps both start-ups and established concerns develop future-proof strategies for success in a digitally disrupted market.

Katlego Maphai has twenty years of experience in technology. He is currently the Co-founder and CEO of Yoco. This market-leading digital payments platform provides payment acceptance solutions, software-driven business tools, and working capital for small businesses in South Africa.

His previous work involved venture development at Rocket Internet, where he helped to set up the Jumia pan-African e-commerce platform in Nigeria in 2012. Katlego started his career in management consulting, media, and technology management consulting at Accenture and then Delta Partners.

He graduated from the University of Cape Town with a degree in Business Science Information Systems.

Lesego Chauke-Motshwane is responsible for the payment systems functions at PASA. These include the Payments Clearing and Settlement structures; committees for the various payment systems of South Africa’s National Payment System; PASA’s Change Management and Communications functions; and PASA’s Project Management Office.

In addition, she is the PASA executive sponsor for several strategic projects in the payments industry.

Prior to PASA, Lesego spent 20 years in financial services at commercial banks in various management roles. The early part of her career was spent in electronics engineering and management consulting.

She holds a Master of Engineering (Cum Laude) and a Master of Business Administration.

Cosmore Pariola is a highly experienced Chartered Accountant with international business exposure, having worked in various regions, including South Africa and Australia.

Her career has focused on financial services, professional services and mining, often in senior management or leadership positions interacting with C-suite members and executives.

Previously, Cosmore oversaw business operations and technology in 11 Sub-Saharan African countries while working for an international bank.

Her various responsibilities include meeting financial targets, human capital, risk and controls, client experience, and systems and processes. These duties support delivery of strong and sustainable financial results, underpinned by sound controls, systems and processes in highly competitive environments.

Naniki Ramabi is the Chief Risk Officer for the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA).

She joined PASA in 2019 and is a member of the PASA Executive Committee, responsible for maintaining sound risk management practices for both PASA as a legal entity and the National Payment System (NPS).

She has over 24 years of working experience in the financial services industry spanning the Risk Management, Auditing, Compliance, Forensic Investigations, and Information Security governance fields.

Nadine is an admitted attorney with extensive experience in legal practice, having served as Senior Legal Counsel at the South African Reserve Bank and Head of Legal at Standard Chartered Bank.

Her expertise spans banking law, reserve asset management programme advice and all facets of competition and dispute law.

Nadine has a keen interest in payments law and brings her wealth of banking and regulatory knowledge to her role at PASA, focusing on the transition to the PIB and the implementation of related payment regulations.

She holds an LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand and has completed the International Executive Development Programme from Wits Business School.

Justice Malala is an award-winning author, political commentator, newspaper columnist and television host.

He writes regular columns for Bloomberg internationally, and the Financial Mail and TimesLive in South Africa. He has been published in the Financial Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Times of London, and others.

In 2023, The Economist called him “perhaps the country’s most astute political commentator.” Malala has authored four books. The latest, The Plot To Save South Africa: The Week Mandela Averted Civil War and Forged a New Nation, was published in Canada, the UK, the USA and South Africa, reaching number one on the South African best-seller list.

Ingrid Goodspeed is an independent financial sector analyst with over 30 years of banking and financial markets experience, including treasury, risk management, compliance, investment analysis, economic research and information technology.

She previously served as Chief Director, Financial Sector Development at the National Treasury, and held executive and management roles at several banks.

Ingrid is a Chartered Director (SA) and a Fellow of the South African Institute of Financial Markets (SAIFM). She was appointed as PASA’s Independent Council Chair in August 2024 and serves on several boards and trusts, including the SAIFM, and ASISA Enterprise and Supplier Development Fund.

Ingrid also holds an MBL (cum laude), a BCom Honours (Economics) and an LLB from Unisa.

Shanice Gounden brings to her role at PASA over seven years of experience in financial services and payment strategy, with specialisation in large-scale programme transformation across diverse sectors. She has actively contributed to various payments modernisation, innovation and regulatory initiatives within South Africa and across Africa.

Currently, Shanice leads PASA’s engagement in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Recommendation 16, representing both bank and non-bank stakeholders in global and domestic consultations.

Her work focuses on enhancing transparency and compliance in the payments sector, ensuring that South Africa's financial systems align with international standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

Nomathamsanqa (Thami) Moatshe has over 22 years of leadership experience spanning industry, commerce, energy, development finance and banking.

She serves as an Independent Councillor at the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA), where she chairs the Audit Committee, and contributes to the Risk and IT Committees and the PIB Advisory Committee.

In addition to leading Percer Consulting, Thami serves in Chairperson, Non-Executive Director or Independent Non-Executive Director roles at various organisations.

She holds an MBA from Henley Business School and a Master of Management in Finance and Investment from Wits Business School and is a Certified Director accredited by the Institute of Directors South Africa.

Maurits Pretorius brings over 27 years of experience in strategy development, strategic transformation, and organisational turnaround driving change at both corporate and industry levels.

Following his retirement as PASA’s Chief Strategy Officer in 2024, Maurits continues to contribute as an Executive Advisor, reporting directly to the CEO. His current focus areas include supporting the PEM programme, guiding PASA through a rapidly evolving regulatory environment, and building strategic capability through the development of a Strategy Centre of Excellence for both PASA and the broader payments industry.

Maurits has played a pivotal role in shaping South Africa’s payments landscape. He was instrumental in the development and implementation of industry-wide payment modernisation roadmaps for key initiatives such as PayShap and DebiCheck. He also led the design of the Payments Industry Body (PIB), ensuring that it is inclusive, effective, and future-focused. While recent regulatory policy shifts may influence the original PIB design, Maurits’s continued involvement ensures both continuity and meaningful industry participation going forward.

With his deep expertise and strategic insight into the payments ecosystem, Maurits Pretorius brings exceptional value to PIPC 2025 as a featured speaker.

Stasha Battye brings over 30 years of experience across technical, management, and leadership roles, with a strong focus on technology and retail initiatives, particularly in point-of-sale and payment ecosystems.

With a deep background in solution architecture and consulting, she has led the design and implementation of numerous payments and digital value-added services, products, and systems.

Her work reflects a strong understanding of the complexities of these environments and the importance of delivering secure, sustainable, and user-friendly services to consumers.

Stasha has been instrumental in several landmark payment initiatives in South Africa, including the development of the first Active-Active retail payment switch in Africa only the second of its kind globally.

Richard Ketley is a leading expert on banking in Africa, with over 25 years of experience advising financial institutions across the continent and the Middle East.

At Genesis Analytics, he works closely with boards and executive teams on strategic initiatives including bank acquisitions, treasury strategy, retail banking value propositions, and pricing models. His particular interests include mobile payments and money transfers, small business banking, and innovative pricing solutions.

Richard is also a respected speaker and lectures widely on topics related to retail banking and financial sector strategy.

Adrian Saville brings more than 25 years of experience in capital markets and investment management, with a track record spanning all major asset classes across both public and private markets. He has managed a variety of funds and portfolios throughout his career.

Alongside his investment work, he is deeply engaged in academia and thought leadership, holding a professorship at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in South Africa where he also heads up the Centre for African Management and Markets.

Adrian has developed a range of innovative tools to assess economic integration and performance, investment impact, and firm strategy across diverse markets. In 2023, he founded Boundless World, an advisory firm focused on capital markets, business model innovation, and growth strategy.

Stephen Linnell is a dynamic executive who has a wealth of local and international experience across a wide range of disciplines. He has a proven track record of delivering transformation-oriented results in the financial services sector.

Stephen has a strong interest in developing sustainable and impactful South African financial market infrastructure and previously served on the Board of the JSE Clear and STRATE.

Stephen joined BankservAfrica from Rand Merchant Bank, where he held the position of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Information Officer for Global Markets. He also served as the Head of Global Securities Services at the African corporate and investment bank.

Rahul Jain is the Co-founder and CEO of Peach Payments, a leading payment gateway empowering businesses across Africa. With a vision to simplify online payments, Rahul has driven Peach Payments' expansion across the continent, enabling thousands of merchants, from startups to large enterprises, to thrive in the digital economy.

An IESE Business School MBA graduate and recognised as one of their 40Under40 Entrepreneurs, Rahul is a respected voice in African fintech. He is dedicated to fostering financial inclusion and entrepreneurial success by providing secure and seamless payment solutions tailored to the diverse African market.

Nkateko Mabaso is an accomplished financial services professional with two decades of experience in banking and insurance. At BankservAfrica, she leads the risk management, ethics, and compliance functions, playing a key role in ensuring operational integrity and regulatory compliance, particularly for Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs).

Nkateko has developed deep expertise in enterprise-wide risk management. She has led the design and implementation of robust governance frameworks, strategic risk approaches, and monitoring processes that underpin organisational resilience.

She also provides expertise in outsourcing and supplier risk management, risk modelling analysis, and business continuity planning. Her work supports the development of effective risk mitigation strategies, helping to ensure BankservAfrica’s stability and resilience in an evolving regulatory and operational landscape.

Lineshree Moodley brings over 19 years of experience in financial services, with a strong focus on shaping the future of e-commerce and digital payments in sub-Saharan Africa.

She has led strategy development and digitalisation initiatives for mobile network operators, financial institutions, and fintechs across diverse markets, helping to design and implement innovative payment platforms and future-ready banking models.

Her work spans the full lifecycle of digital payment systems, from conceptualisation to execution, with a particular focus on non-traditional and value-added financial services. Lineshree is driven by a passion for financial technology as a catalyst for economic development, business growth, and improved quality of life.

Lukas van der Merwe is a seasoned ICT managed services expert with over 25 years of global experience. He brings deep expertise in cybersecurity, with a strategic focus on holistic approaches and Zero Trust principles.
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Throughout his career, Lukas has held senior executive and sales roles at leading technology firms including Gijima, T-Systems, and IBM. Today, he leads Cybersecurity Sales and Client Development at CyberCom, where he strengthens the critical link between cybersecurity and business growth.
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Renowned for building lasting client relationships, Lukas excels in navigating complex digital challenges through innovative problem solving, strategic negotiation, and impactful communication.

Olivier Lens leads a team across three offices to deliver on SWIFT’s ambitious Africa growth plan.
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Prior to this, Olivier was part of the Capital Markets Strategy team at SWIFT, tasked with defining the organisation’s global capital markets strategy for the future, from a technological, product and segment perspective.
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Olivier joined SWIFT in 2012 to manage its Funds & Investment Management business across EMEA. In 2014, he took over the Benelux sales and relationship management team, supporting regional banks, payment service providers, corporates and market infrastructures.
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Before SWIFT, Olivier worked for Euroclear, covering various functions from operational management to network management.

Lauren Breetzke is a highly respected legal expert in South Africa’s financial services sector, having over a decade of specialising in payments law.
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At FirstRand Bank, she plays a pivotal role in shaping legal strategy and regulatory compliance within the payments ecosystem.
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She has served three terms as Chair of the PASA Legal Committee, spearheading numerous initiatives. In recognition of her leadership and deep sector expertise, Lauren was recently appointed to the PASA Council.
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A respected voice, she continues to shape discourse on legal and regulatory developments in payments. Her ability to bridge the gap between legal frameworks and rapidly evolving payments makes her a sought-after thought leader worldwide.

Erna Solomon is a seasoned financial services technology leader with over 35 years of experience across local and international banks, insurers, clearing houses, and consultancies. Her expertise lies in aligning business and technology strategies to deliver customer-centric solutions that drive tangible business value.
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Throughout her career, Erna has led large-scale industry and enterprise implementations across payments, securities, core banking, and data platforms. Prior to founding Cyan EA, she held executive roles including Chief Architect, CIO, Consulting Partner, CEO, and COO, and has served on multiple boards.

Erna played a key role in re-architecting the SARB's Financial Surveillance (FinSurv) and Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems and was part of PASA’s Project Future team, which laid the groundwork for BankservAfrica’s launch of PayShap.

With a career spanning 16 years, Nastassia Arendse has established herself as a smart, compelling and creative financial journalist.

As a leading anchor on CNBC Africa, she hosts a weekday programme where she interviews top industry experts and explores key issues in finance, markets, economics, and business both locally and globally.

Nastassia’s versatility spans print, audio, digital, and television platforms. Her international experience has taken her around the world, showcasing her adaptability and depth as a journalist.

A dynamic news anchor and reporter, she has hosted numerous business shows across television and radio and authored in-depth features on global commodity markets.

Kimmo Soramäki is the Founder and CEO of FNA and the author of Network Theory and Financial Risk. He began his career as an economist at the Bank of Finland, where in 1997, he developed the first simulator for optimising intraday liquidity in interbank payment systems.

In 2004, while at the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he was among the first to apply methods from network theory to improve our understanding of financial systems. During the 2007–2008 financial crisis, Kimmo advised several central banks including the Bank of England and the European Central Bank on modelling interconnections and systemic risk.

This work inspired the founding of FNA, a company focused on making financial networks safer and more resilient. Kimmo holds a Doctor of Science in Operations Research and a Master of Science in Accounting (Finance), both from Aalto University in Helsinki.

Christopher Malan has oversight responsibility for monitoring the national state of supervision and inspections by supervisory bodies, and national compliance of all accountable institutions under the FIC Act.

He is a member of the South African delegation to the Financial Action Task Force, responsible for remediating grey-listing action items relating to Designated Non-financial Businesses and Professions.

Christopher is also co-chair of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Beneficial Ownership Transparency tasked with designing and implementing a national BOT registry framework in South Africa and provides guidance on the greylisting remediation of BOT.

A financial sector expert, he has participated in FATF assessments of Australia and Finland.

Miranda Perumal is a dynamic payments leader with extensive experience driving partnerships and market development across Africa.

At Scale, Miranda leverages her deep industry knowledge and C-suite engagement capabilities to accelerate growth for financial technology companies throughout the continent.

Her work history includes an exceptional track record for developing innovative card issuing go-to-market implementations for banks, MNOs, fintechs and payment facilitators.

Miranda is passionate about #FemaleInTech, combining her strategic vision with authentic relationship-building to drive financial inclusion and accessibility across Africa.

Her expertise in product evolution, market development and partnership creation positions her as an influential ambassador for payment and fintech innovation.

Lincoln Mali is a seasoned business leader, speaker and author with over 25 years of experience in the financial services sector.

After two decades in senior leadership roles at Standard Bank Group, he joined Lesaka Technologies in 2021, where he led the company’s successful transformation into South Africa’s leading fintech.

Lincoln is also the Founding President of the Association of South African Payment Providers (ASAPP), an industry body focused on advancing financial inclusion in South Africa.

In 2022, he authored Blazing a Trail: Lessons for African Leadership, with proceeds supporting the Lincoln Mali Leadership Foundation -  a non-profit dedicated to youth empowerment and leadership development across Africa.