For months, the exact scale of KCB Group’s planned acquisition of Pesapal remained a closely guarded detail, with the bank offering only vague language about a “minority stake” pending regulatory approval. That changed when Tanzania’s Fair Competition Commission published documentation naming a precise figure, giving the public its first real look at how much of the East African payments company KCB actually intends to own. The KCB Pesapal stake, now confirmed at 22.23%, adds fresh clarity to a deal that has been unfolding quietly since late last year.
What makes this disclosure particularly interesting is where it came from. Kenyan regulators haven’t been the ones to reveal the number, Tanzania’s competition watchdog has, and for a fairly technical reason tied to how Pesapal’s regional operations are structured. Because Pesapal runs a licensed payment service business in Tanzania as well as Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Zambia, any change in ownership at the parent company level triggers a separate review process in each market where competition concerns could arise. That cross-border regulatory web is why a Tanzanian agency, rather than a Kenyan one, ended up being the source of this long-awaited detail.
Beyond the headline figure, this development says a lot about where KCB is steering its business. This piece looks at what the Tanzanian filing reveals, why the deal needed sign-off outside Kenya, and how it fits into KCB’s broader ambitions in the fintech space.
Why Tanzania’s Regulator Became the Source of This News
Pesapal may be headquartered in Kenya, but its footprint extends well beyond the country’s borders. The company operates licensed payment services in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Zambia, which means any ownership change at its Kenyan parent automatically raises jurisdictional questions in each of those markets. Since acquiring a stake in Pesapal’s parent entity would hand KCB indirect control over Pesapal Tanzania Limited, the Fair Competition Commission needed to weigh in before the transaction could proceed in that market.
The FCC’s notice, published on August 21, described the transaction plainly: KCB Group Plc acquiring 22.23% of Pesapal’s issued share capital, resulting in indirect control over the Tanzanian subsidiary. From there, the regulator opened a public comment period, inviting feedback from customers, suppliers, competitors, and employees who might be affected by the ownership shift. That window closed on September 4, after which the FCC began assessing whether the deal could pose any competitive concerns within Tanzania’s payments market. Pesapal’s Tanzanian arm operates under a license from the Bank of Tanzania as a registered payment service provider, adding another layer of oversight to the review.
What Pesapal Brings to the Table
Understanding why KCB would want this stake requires a closer look at what Pesapal actually does. The company builds payment processing and business-management tools used by companies across a wide range of sectors, including retail, hospitality, travel, petroleum, and manufacturing. Its services cover card payments, mobile money integration, and bank payment acceptance, essentially giving merchants a single platform to handle multiple payment channels rather than juggling separate systems.
For a bank like KCB, this kind of merchant-facing infrastructure represents a different kind of value than traditional banking services. Instead of just processing loans and deposits, Pesapal’s technology gives KCB a more direct line into how small and medium-sized businesses actually move money day to day.
How the Deal Fits Into KCB’s Fintech Strategy
The KCB Pesapal stake isn’t happening in isolation. It follows an earlier move by the bank into Riverbank Solutions, a Nairobi-based digital payments firm, where KCB acquired a 75% stake in a transaction valued at KES 2 billion. Riverbank specializes in building payment and revenue collection infrastructure for banks, government agencies, and retail businesses, giving KCB a foothold in institutional payment systems even before the Pesapal deal came into focus.
Taken together, these two acquisitions point to a clear strategic direction. KCB appears to be repositioning itself from a conventional banking institution into something closer to a full financial services platform, one where banking, payments processing, and business management tools operate under a single corporate umbrella. That shift reflects a broader trend among African banks looking to capture more of the digital finance ecosystem rather than ceding that ground to standalone fintech companies.
There’s also a notable financial detail tied to the relationship between the two companies. According to KCB’s latest annual report, as reported by Business Daily, Pesapal owed the bank KES 1.2 billion as of the end of December 2025, a figure disclosed separately from the acquisition announcement itself. That existing financial relationship adds another dimension to how the two companies are already intertwined ahead of any formal ownership change.
Where the Acquisition Currently Stands
As of now, the deal remains incomplete. Speaking to investors in March, KCB CEO Paul Russo confirmed that the bank was still waiting on regulatory approval before the acquisition could close. KCB has not yet confirmed whether the 22.23% stake has formally changed hands, and Tanzania’s FCC continues to describe the transaction as a proposed acquisition under active investigation.
If the deal ultimately receives full approval, it would give KCB deeper access to Pesapal’s merchant network spanning East Africa, along with expanded tools to serve small and medium-sized businesses, a segment the bank has repeatedly identified as central to its long-term growth strategy across the region.
