This Will Change How the Payments Industry Operates in Kenya
On 21 September 2026, the National Treasury and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) published the Draft National Payment System Policy and National Payment System Bill, 2026 for public participation.
The proposed bill would repeal and replace the existing National Payment Systems Act, creating a broader framework intended to support interoperability, competition, data protection and financial sustainability. Public comments are being invited until 9 October 2026.
This is not yet the law, but for payment businesses, fintech and technology companies operating or entering Kenya, it is a signal worth paying attention to.
The Payment Ecosystem Is Getting Bigger
The proposed framework reaches well beyond traditional payment providers.
It contemplates licensing categories covering payment initiation service providers, account information service providers, merchant acquirers, electronic wallet providers, and electronic money remittance service providers.
It also creates categories for payment system operators, including payment gateways, messaging systems, card schemes, and payment switching and clearing systems.
That matters because the lines between financial services and technology and infrastructure continue to blur
A business may not look like a conventional payment company, but if its technology moves, processes, stores, initiates or facilitates payments, the regulatory conversation may still find it.
Capital Is Becoming Part of the Conversation
The draft bill proposes differentiated minimum capital requirements depending on the type of payment business.
For example, the proposed threshold ranges from Ksh. 5 million for payment initiation and account information service providers to KSh 250 million for electronic money issuers
Merchant acquirers, electronic wallet providers and payment switching and clearing system operators would each face a proposed KSh 50 million minimum, while payment gateways would face KSh 10 million
For businesses, it raises questions about:
- How is the business structured
- What activities does it actually understand
- Which license category could apply
- Does its current capital structure support its intended model
These are questions worth answering before a business reaches its next funding round, product launch, or market expansion.
Interoperability Could Change How Businesses Build
One of the most notable themes in the proposed framework is interoperability
The bills’ objectives explicitly include promoting interoperability, competitiveness and openness in Kenya’s national payment systems
For businesses building payment infrastructure, this has a practical implication. Your technology strategy cannot be separated from the ecosystem around it.
The ability to connect, integrate, and operate across systems could become increasingly important to product design, partnership and expansion.
In other words, building a payment product may no longer be enough. Businesses will need to think about how that product connects to everything else.
Then There Is Open Finance
The proposed framework also brings account information services into the regulatory architecture.
That points toward a payment environment where, with appropriate customer consent, financial data can be accessed and used to support new services and business models.
The opportunity is significant, but so are the responsibilities.
Data access brings questions around:
- Customer consent
- Data protection
- Cybersecurity
- Third-party access
- Liability,
- Governance
- Operational resilience
For fintechs, this means innovation and compliance increasingly have to be designed together. Not one after the other
Regulation Is Moving Closer to the Operating Model
The proposed framework also strengthens the regulatory focus on the resilience and governance of payment businesses.
The bill provides for supervisory and intervention powers, while the proposed framework includes requirements around consumer protection, risk management and security of payment systems.
That changes the conversation for growing businesses.
A payment company can have a compelling product, strong customer numbers and an ambitious expansion strategy, but if its governance, safeguarding, technology controls or operational resilience cannot keep pace, growth itself can create regulatory exposure.
In other words, scale makes weak structures more visible.
The Real Opportunity Is To Prepare Before the Rules Are Final
The Draft National Payment System Bill is still subject to public participation and the legislative process, so businesses should not treat proposed requirements as settled, but as a regulatory signal.
A signal that Kenya is preparing for a payment ecosystem that is more interconnected, more technology-driven and more demanding of businesses operating within it
For fintechs and payments businesses, now is the time to ask:
- What activities does our business actually perform?
- Where could we fall within the proposed framework?
- Are our governance and ownership structures ready
- Can our technology support interoperability?
- How are customer funds and data protected?
- What would regional expansion require from our regulatory architecture?
The businesses that ask these questions early give themselves more room to adapt when the framework takes shape, because regulatory readiness begins when the direction becomes clear. Not when the rules arrive
Build With Ambition, Scale With Structure.
At Velex Advisory, we help businesses understand the regulatory, commercial and structural questions that emerge as they grow.
Whether you’re building a fintech, expanding a payment product or preparing to enter new markets, the right time to examine the structure behind the growth is before the growth makes the gaps harder to fix.
