On Monday, the Fintech Alliance and Pesalink signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expedite access to quick, interoperable, and inclusive digital payments throughout Kenya.
This marks a significant milestone for the country’s digital finance industry.
Benefits of the Pesalink-Fintech Alliance partnership
Through this collaboration, banking infrastructure and fintech leaders will streamline integrations, coordinate security and fraud standards, start co-innovation and awareness campaigns, and facilitate the quicker rollout of new A2A payment services through Pesalink.
With this collaboration, fintechs will be able to connect to Pesalink’s strong instant payments infrastructure with the least amount of hassle possible.
The objectives are to enable smooth, instantaneous account-to-account transactions, spur innovation, and promote financial inclusion for millions of Kenyans and businesses.
Objectives of the Pesalink-Fintech Alliance’s partnership
The partnership between Pesalink and Fintech Alliance intends to achieve the following objectives:
Seamless Integration: Pesalink will now be much easier for fintechs to connect with, accelerating the rollout of new digital financial solutions and enabling safer, quicker, and more accessible payments for everyone.
Ecosystem Cooperation: By bringing banks, fintechs, SACCOs, and telcos together, this Memorandum of Understanding establishes a new standard for industry collaboration, opening the door to more intelligent, scalable solutions that can be used as a template in other markets.
Financial Inclusion: With more than 70 financial institutions already involved, this collaboration will support Kenya’s transition to a truly inclusive digital economy by providing essential services to marginalised communities.
Innovation Acceleration: The partnership includes plans for an API sandbox and cooperative awareness campaigns on security and payment standards to empower developers and foster trust throughout the ecosystem.
Regional Impact: As Kenya solidifies its position as a leader in digital payments, this partnership may encourage comparable partnerships throughout Africa, promoting economic growth and regional interoperability.
“Interoperability isn’t just a feature. It’s foundational. This MoU creates a scalable platform for fintechs and infrastructure providers to build smarter, faster, and more inclusive payment experiences together.” – Gituku Kirika, CEO, IPSL.
Ali Hussein Kassim, chairperson of The Fintech Alliance, welcomed the move, stating, “This partnership signals a new chapter of collaboration between fintechs and the payments infrastructure that powers Kenya’s banking sector. It reflects our shared ambition to scale innovations that are commercially viable and financially inclusive. We look forward to leveraging this platform to create more customer-first solutions for the future.”
The payment ecosystem in Kenya entered a new phase of cooperation with this development.
About Pesalink
Integrated Payment Services Limited (IPSL) operates Pesalink, which facilitates real-time payments.
Pesalink has created a technology that allows Kenyan individuals and companies to send and receive money instantly through their bank accounts.
With more than 6 million registered accounts, PesaLink is currently linked to 41 Kenyan banks.
To solve the issue of interbank money transfers in the nation, IPSL, the parent company of Pesalink, was founded in 2015 under the National Payment System (NPS) Act.
Pesalink facilitates financial inclusion and economic growth in the nation by allowing individuals and businesses to easily make and accept payments at any time.
About Fintech Alliance
The Fintech Alliance is the umbrella organisation for hundreds of fintech companies operating in Kenya’s rapidly changing digital payments market.
It is made up of leading sector associations such as the Association of Fintechs in Kenya (AFIK), Digital Financial Services Association of Kenya (DFSAK), the Decentralised Credit Providers Association of Kenya (DCPAK), and the Blockchain Association of Kenya (BAK).