Fintech & Payments

Sector overview

East Africa leads the world in mobile money, and the rulebook is maturing fast: payment-service licensing, digital-credit oversight, virtual-asset regimes and data-protection enforcement. We help fintechs get licensed, stay licensed and scale across borders.

Key regulators

5 tracked

Central Bank of Kenya

Bank of Uganda

Bank of Tanzania

National Bank of Rwanda

Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (Kenya)

What we cover

Focus areas for Fintech & Payments.

01

Licensing & market entry

Application packs, regulator engagement and multi-country licensing roadmaps.

02

Payments & e-money

Safeguarding of customer funds, agent-network oversight and interoperability obligations.

03

Data protection

Registration, DPIAs, cross-border transfer assessments and breach playbooks.

04

Virtual assets

VASP licensing readiness, travel-rule controls and crypto-asset risk assessments.

05

Digital credit

Fair-lending practices, debt-collection conduct and credit-reference obligations.

06

Fraud & cyber

Account-takeover defences, SIM-swap controls and incident-response testing.

Regulatory radar

Recent developments across the region.

Market Intelligence

Oct 2025

Kenya · National Treasury / CMA / CBK medium impact enacted

Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025

Introduces a licensing and supervisory regime for virtual asset service providers, including AML/CFT obligations such as the travel rule. Banks and payment providers dealing with VASPs need updated risk assessments.

Aug 2025

Kenya · Central Bank of Kenya high impact effective

Risk-based credit pricing anchored on the KESONIA benchmark

The revised risk-based credit pricing model requires variable-rate loans to be priced off the Kenya Shilling Overnight Interest Average (KESONIA) plus a disclosed premium, with transition timelines for existing facilities and new disclosure obligations.

Jan 2025

Ethiopia · Ethiopian Capital Market Authority medium impact effective

Ethiopian Securities Exchange begins trading

The launch of the Ethiopian Securities Exchange, under a new capital-markets regulator, opens listing, disclosure and market-conduct obligations for issuers and intermediaries.

Dec 2024

Kenya · Central Bank of Kenya high impact enacted

Minimum core capital for banks rising to KSh 10 billion by 2029

Amendments to the Banking Act raise the minimum core capital for commercial banks in phases from KSh 1 billion to KSh 10 billion by 2029. Smaller banks face capital raises, mergers or new strategic investors, and boards need a credible, phased capital plan.

Practices that support you