Ozow and RelyComply have partnered to make merchant onboarding faster and more secure across South Africa’s digital payments ecosystem.
The partnership is designed to help Ozow streamline how it brings new merchants onto its platform, while strengthening checks that can reduce fraud risk and improve trust across its payment network as more businesses move online.
By integrating RelyComply’s AI verification tools into Ozow’s onboarding workflows, the companies aim to identify higher-risk profiles earlier in the process. The collaboration targets common fraud typologies associated with growing digital activity, including fake identities, mule accounts and fraudulent business registrations.
Ozow provides account-to-account payment capabilities and a broader suite of digital payment products for consumers and businesses. Founded in 2014, the company offers services including Pay by Bank, Card Payments, PayShap Request, Instant Refunds, Payouts and Cash Vouchers, positioning itself as an enabler of seamless and accessible payments.
RelyComply focuses on compliance-led onboarding and verification, using AI to support identity and risk checks that can help payment providers and platforms scale safely. Through the Ozow partnership, its tooling will be embedded directly into the onboarding journey to support earlier risk detection and reduce downstream operational and financial exposure.
Both firms said the partnership aligns with Ozow’s goal of making digital payments simple, safe and more accessible for South Africans, while reinforcing the role compliance plays in building confidence for merchants and consumers as transaction volumes grow.
RelyComply CEO Bradley Elliott said, “Onboarding is where trust begins. As payment systems grow, that trust needs to scale too. Our partnership with Ozow reflects a shared belief – that secure growth starts with smarter AML compliance.”
Ozow interim CEO Rachel Cowan said, “We’re excited to partner with RelyComply to enhance the safety and reliability of our merchant onboarding process. As we grow, we remain focused on helping people and businesses transact with confidence.”
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