SADC markets
All sixteen members: the currency, the monetary bloc, who regulates money there, and which rail value actually arrives on. Grouped by monetary arrangement rather than alphabetically, because that is the grouping that changes what is possible.
Common Monetary Area
Four members. Lesotho, Namibia and Eswatini peg at par to the rand, which is legal tender in all three. Value moves between them on terms available nowhere else in the region — and Lesotho still receives substantially on mobile money, which is the case proving that monetary arrangements and payment rails are separate questions.
SZL · SZ
CBE
LSL · LS
CBL · FIU
Receives on M-Pesa
The case that separates monetary arrangements from rails. Shares a peg and comparable banking arrangements with South Africa and still runs substantially on mobile money.
NAD · NA
BoN · FIC · NAMFISA
Exchange control position is the highest-priority open question on the register.
ZAR · ZA
SARB · FIC · FSCA
The regional anomaly. Deep bank and card infrastructure relative to every other member, which makes it a poor template for the receiving side of any corridor out of it.
SACU, outside the monetary area
Botswana is in the customs union and outside the Common Monetary Area; the pula floats against a basket. This is the distinction most often flattened into “southern Africa”, and flattening it is how a corridor gets designed on the wrong assumption.
BWP · BW
BoB · FIA · NBFIRA
The distinction most often flattened. Customs union membership does not imply monetary alignment.
The rest of SADC
Eleven members, each with its own currency, regulator set and dominant mobile money operator. There is no regional default here — the receiving side differs by country, and assuming otherwise from a South African vantage point is the common error.
AOA · AO
BNA
Lusophone. Fuel subsidy withdrawal under IMF pressure since 2023 is a live macro factor.
KMF · KM
No regulator established yet
Smallest member; least covered in published research.
CDF · CD
No regulator established yet
Francophone. Landlocked destination for corridors routed through Namibia and Zambia.
MGA · MG
No regulator established yet
Francophone.
MWK · MW
RBM · FIA
Receives on Airtel Money
MUR · MU
BoM
Financial centre; a materially different regulatory posture from the mainland members.
MZN · MZ
BdM
Receives on M-Pesa
Lusophone; regulator material is predominantly in Portuguese, which is a real research cost.
SCR · SC
CBS
TZS · TZ
BoT
ZMW · ZM
BoZ
Receives on Airtel Money, MTN Mobile Money, Zamtel Kwacha
Mobile money reaches roughly three times as many people on foot as bank branches do.
ZWG · ZW
RBZ
Receives on EcoCash
Largest corridor by volume out of South Africa. Active enforcement against unlicensed currency dealing, and a history of central bank intervention in mobile money.