Kenya’s central bank seeks powers to take over struggling fintechs

Kenya’s central bank is seeking powers to take over struggling payment companies and sell their businesses, expanding the regulator’s role in protecting customer money when providers run into trouble.

The draft National Payment System Bill, 2026, would allow the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to intervene when a provider fails to meet its obligations to customers or other financial institutions, breaches regulatory requirements, or threatens financial stability.

The measures could put CBK at the centre of resolving failures in an industry where customers rely on private companies to hold and move their money. It could force service providers and their investors to surrender control of a troubled business before it reaches liquidation, with CBK deciding who runs it and appointing a statutory manager to sell it.

“The Central Bank may intervene in the management of a payment service provider or a payment system operator where … the payment service provider or payment system operator fails to meet its obligations to customers,” the draft bill states.

A company that fails to comply with a regulatory directive could also face action, while CBK could intervene during a crisis to protect financial stability and public confidence.

That would give the regulator room to act while a business still has assets and operations worth preserving. In payments, a provider’s inability to settle its obligations can affect merchants awaiting sales proceeds, customers making transfers, and other institutions expecting payment.

CBK appointing officials

The proposal also allows CBK to remove company officials it deems responsible for a company’s deterioration, appoint a director who cannot be dismissed without its approval, and stop the firm from taking on new payment business or agents.

“All the powers of the directors, significant shareholders, senior officers or trustees” would cease on the manager’s appointment, except where the manager permitted them to continue, the draft says.

Such restrictions could limit the amount of additional customer money exposed to a troubled provider. They could also leave its owners with little influence over how the company responds to its troubles.

While the proposal places the protection of customer money at the centre of any intervention, it does not guarantee uninterrupted access to funds. A statutory manager could suspend payments to customers and other creditors while managing the company’s affairs.

CBK has intervened in a payment company before. In October 2021, it revoked the authorisation of Mobile Pay, which operated under the Tangaza brand, citing regulatory breaches that put customer funds at risk. According to the regulator, the company failed to submit audited accounts for its business and trust fund, as well as security audits and other reports.

The proposed law would build on those powers with a detailed statutory management regime, including provisions for replacing management and selling a provider’s business.

CBK has exercised similar powers in the banking industry over the past decade. It placed Imperial Bank into receivership in October 2015 and announced its liquidation in December 2021.

Chase Bank, which entered receivership in April 2016, reopened that month under KCB’s management. In 2018, a deal transferred 75% of the value of its deposits to SBM Bank, before the remaining business went into liquidation in 2021. The interventions show the options available to the regulator.

The proposal, which will repeal and replace the National Payment System Act of 2011, will now allow the registration and licensing of fintech startups to resolve a legal grey area that has slowed the expansion of fintechs in the country, allowing commercial banks and telcos to dominate.

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