Kenya's central bank is seeking new powers to take over struggling payment companies and sell their businesses, a step that would expand the regulator's role in protecting customer money when providers run into trouble.

Under the draft National Payment System Bill, 2026, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) would be able 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 place the CBK at the centre of resolving failures in an industry where customers rely on private companies to hold and move their money — a reliance that runs deep in Kenya, one of the world's most developed mobile money markets. They could force service providers and their investors to surrender control of a troubled business before it reaches liquidation, with the central bank 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 the 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 to Appoint Officials

The proposal also allows the 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, the draft says.

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

The 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.

The central bank 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 range of options available to the regulator.

The bill, which will repeal and replace the National Payment System Act of 2011, would also allow the registration and licensing of fintech startups, resolving a legal grey area that has slowed the expansion of fintechs in the country and allowed commercial banks and telcos to dominate. Because the legislation remains a draft, both the licensing pathway and the proposed resolution powers would take effect only if the bill clears Kenya's legislative process, a stage at which its scope could still change.