KCB Group’s minority stake in Pesapal is giving Kenya’s largest bank by assets a financial interest in a payments platform that Safaricom is now using to expand M-PESA’s presence at physical retail outlets, creating an unusual overlap between KCB’s fintech investment and its competition with East Africa’s dominant mobile-money provider.
In November 2025, KCB Group, led by CEO Paul Russo, announced an agreement to acquire a minority stake in Pesapal, a digital payments provider that operates point-of-sale terminals and online payment gateways across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia. Tanzania’s Fair Competition Commission later disclosed the precise figure: 22.23 percent.
The deal also involved Pesapal’s existing financial obligations to KCB. Financial disclosures showed that Pesapal owed KCB approximately KSh1.2 billion, indicating that the transaction involved a debt-to-equity element alongside the bank’s acquisition of an ownership stake. It followed KCB’s earlier acquisition of a 75 percent stake in Riverbank Solutions for about KSh2 billion, adding another fintech asset to the bank’s payments and technology portfolio.
KCB’s interest in the merchant payments market
KCB’s investment in Pesapal gives the bank exposure to the infrastructure used by businesses to accept and process digital payments. Pesapal operates point-of-sale terminals and online payment gateways across several East African markets, giving KCB an indirect interest in merchant transactions processed through the platform.
The investment also gives KCB exposure to a payments network beyond its traditional banking channels. Pesapal’s presence in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia provides the bank with an interest in merchant-payment activity across multiple markets where it does not necessarily have the same payments infrastructure.
The Safaricom overlap
Safaricom has now deepened its partnership with Pesapal by integrating M-PESA Tap-to-Pay, which uses near-field communication (NFC), and dynamic Scan-to-Pay, which uses QR codes, into Pesapal’s Android-based Sabi point-of-sale terminals.
The two companies are also rolling out the payment capabilities through Safaricom’s My OneApp. Safaricom has publicly targeted an expansion from roughly 60,000 to 500,000 physical retail outlets within a year.
That creates a commercial overlap for KCB. The bank owns 22.23 percent of Pesapal, while Safaricom is using Pesapal’s merchant-payment infrastructure to expand M-PESA at physical retail locations.
KCB therefore has a financial interest in the payments platform Paypal that is helping Safaricom expand its own merchant network. At the same time, Safaricom and KCB compete in parts of the broader digital financial-services market.
The strategic trade-off
The relationship could give KCB exposure to transaction-related revenue and a growing merchant-payment network without having to build the entire infrastructure itself.
At the same time, Safaricom’s growing presence on Pesapal terminals could strengthen M-PESA’s position at the point of sale. If M-PESA becomes increasingly embedded in merchants’ payment systems, Safaricom could deepen its relationship with businesses and consumers using those terminals.
For KCB, the outcome will depend on how the bank uses its investment in Pesapal and whether its ownership stake produces value beyond its existing lending and banking relationships with merchants.