Safaricom is set to upgrade its fintech platform, M-Pesa, on Monday from 12:30 AM to 3:30 AM. During the upgrade period, all M-PESA services, including airtime purchases, will be momentarily unavailable.
“For 18 years, M-PESA has continued transforming lives across Kenya, connecting you, our customers, to daily opportunities. To support this and meet our promise to offer always-on, safe, secure, and worry-free financial products and services, we will be conducting a scheduled system upgrade on Monday, 22nd September 2025, from 0:30 AM to 3:30 AM,” the company announced.
The company assured its customers that maintenance activity had been scheduled to cause them the least inconvenience possible.
It stated, “During the maintenance, all M-PESA services, including airtime purchase, shall be temporarily unavailable. The timing of this maintenance activity has been planned to result in minimal inconvenience to our customers. We apologise for any inconvenience that may be caused and thank you for your continued support”
M-Pesa’s upgrade tagged Fintech 2.0
For the first time since 2015, Safaricom’s most significant upgrade is the fintech platform upgrade, which marks the company’s 18th anniversary. This daring move is meant to future-proof Africa’s top fintech service.
The update, known as Fintech 2.0, offers a new core platform designed to increase capacity, boost resilience, and spur cutting-edge AI-driven innovation.
It is a significant milestone for Safaricom, redefining M-PESA’s technological foundation and indicating the Kenyan telecom company’s goal of securing a position in Africa’s rapidly expanding digital economy.
“This upgrade is a bold investment in the future of M-PESA and reaffirms our commitment to innovation, resilience and customer trust,” said Safaricom Group CEO Dr Peter Ndegwa.
He added: “By moving to Fintech 2.0, we are unlocking a platform that not only scales to meet today’s demands but also anticipates tomorrow’s opportunities.”
Benefits of Fintech 2.0 (upgraded M-Pesa)
The following are the benefits of Fintech 2.0:
• Transactions per second will increase from 4,500 to 6,000, with the potential to scale to 12,000 as demand increases.
• Greater resilience and fewer service outages are ensured by an active-active architecture spanning several hosting locations.
• Advanced AI will power real-time monitoring, self-healing, and fraud detection.
• A cloud-native foundation offers instant scalability, improved performance, and a quicker launch of new products.
M-Pesa’s significant milestone
In 2007, M-Pesa was a simple money transfer service. Since then, it has grown into Africa’s largest fintech ecosystem, enabling everything from e-commerce and payments to credit, insurance, remittances, and savings.
Fintech 2.0’s introduction guarantees that this growth will continue and pick up speed.
In keeping with M-PESA’s pledge to make financial services easy, accessible, and inclusive, Safaricom claims the change will enable it to provide smarter, quicker, and more secure financial solutions for individuals and businesses.
With this substantial migration, M-Pesa is establishing the digital groundwork for the upcoming innovation wave in Africa’s economy.
The action guarantees that the platform will remain strong enough to accommodate new opportunities, such as cross-border trade solutions and AI-driven financial products.
The upgrade serves as both a technical update and a guarantee that M-Pesa is prepared for the demands of the present and future opportunities for the 60 million customers who depend on it every day throughout Africa.