The CBK wants the power to take over a payment firm

The payments Bill would let the Central Bank walk into a payment company unannounced, fire the people it holds responsible and install its own manager for up to two years — and comment closes on Friday.

Featured · Policy

Read past the open-finance headlines and the National Payment System Bill 2026 is a supervision bill. It would let the CBK enter a provider's premises "with or without notice" and inspect books, accounts, documents, equipment and machinery, with staff obliged to cooperate and answer questions or face penalties; direct the removal of any officer or employee it holds responsible for a breach or for deterioration in the firm's stability; and appoint a statutory manager for twelve months, extendable to twenty-four with High Court approval. The triggers are failing to meet customer obligations, defaulting to other providers, ignoring CBK directives or breaking the law, and creating systemic risk. The scale is the justification: 46.4 billion transactions worth KSh41.7 trillion a year through M-PESA alone, across roughly 54 million mobile money subscriptions. Public comment closes 9 October.

Source: TechTrends KE

A statue of Lady Justice above a courthouse — a statutory manager could run a payment firm for up to two years

FINTECH

Quickmart goes to the NSE at KES 7.50 and a KES 30 billion valuation

Two billion existing shares — half the company — are on offer from 5 to 30 October at KES 7.50, raising KES 15 billion before over-allotment, with the IFC anchoring at KES 1.94 billion. Adenia keeps the other 50%. The seller is Sokoni Retail Kenya, so Quickmart itself receives nothing and says expansion will keep running off internal cash flow. Underneath: 72 stores across 16 counties, FY2025 revenue of KES 50.4 billion and adjusted profit after tax of KES 1.7 billion, which puts the offer at roughly 17.6 times adjusted earnings. For a market that has spent years short of new listings, a 50% free float on a national retailer is the most interesting thing to reach the NSE in a while — even if none of the money reaches the business.

TechTrends KE

TELCOS

MPs ask what happens when your phone number is given to someone else

The Public Petitions Committee is examining Safaricom's SIM deactivation and recycling — specifically how customers are notified, and what happens when a recycled number still points at financial services, account recovery and digital identity. Under rules effective September 2026 a number becomes eligible for deactivation after three months of inactivity, with a further three months for the operator to reach the registered owner, so roughly six months before reassignment, and notices must run in national newspapers and on the operator's site. An M-PESA account dormant 90 days may be archived, though balances remain recoverable; the hardest cases are beneficiaries of a subscriber who has died. The committee also wants the previous owner's data securely archived before a number changes hands. Safaricom points to Daima for keeping a dormant line, and whitelisting for people away longer than six months.

TechTrends KE

FINTECH

Abdi Mohamed takes over at I&M with the digital numbers already working

The former Absa executive, with leadership experience in Tanzania and across East Africa, replaces Kihara Maina. He inherits momentum: first-half group net profit up 22% to KSh10.2 billion, assets at KSh746 billion, net loans up 15% to KSh334 billion and deposits up 18% to KSh505 billion. The digital side is ahead of most peers — about 25,000 new accounts a month with 85% opened digitally, a retail loan book past KSh100 billion, and subsidiaries now contributing 33% of group pre-tax profit. Which makes the job a conversion problem rather than a growth one: turning account openings into profitable relationships, holding credit risk steady, and building revenue that does not depend on lending.

TechTrends KE