South Africa: Competition Commission of South Africa recommended approval of the proposed acquisition of Zero Research by Lesaka Technologies

On 18 November 2025, the Competition Commission of South Africa recommended approval of the proposed acquisition of Zero Research (Pty) by Lesaka Technologies (Pty), concluding its investigation into whether the transaction would substantially lessen or prevent competition. The Competition Commission found that Lesaka, wholly owned by Lesaka Technologies, in the United States and active in financial-technology services such as transactional accounts, insurance, micro-loans, transaction switching, and payment processing for underserved and unbanked customers in South Africa, sought to acquire Zero Research, which controls Bank Zero, a mutual bank operating an app-only platform offering personal and business transactional and cash-investment accounts. Based on the assessment of the Acquiring Group and the Target Group, the Competition Commission determined that the transaction did not raise competition concerns and did not trigger significant public-interest issues and therefore recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve the acquisition without conditions.