Kenswitch launches domestic card scheme for Kenyan financial institutions

Kenswitch, Kenya’s largest independent payments switch, has launched a domestic card scheme designed to allow banks and other financial institutions to issue physical and virtual cards on its network.

The company unveiled the Kenswitch Card on Tuesday, presenting it as an option for domestic card issuance and payments across its network of automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and agent outlets.

Digital card issuance demonstrated

Kenswitch demonstrated a digital card-issuance system developed with TAI FINTECH and Stanchion Payments. The demonstration showed a customer opening an account digitally and receiving a virtual card almost immediately.

The virtual card could be frozen and unfrozen, generate dynamic security codes and authenticate online purchases through notifications in the customer’s application or by email.

Kenswitch said its network includes more than 2,200 ATMs, 50,000 point-of-sale terminals and 80,000 agent outlets. The company’s move into card issuance and acceptance expands its role beyond payments switching.

John Mukono, Kenswitch’s chief executive officer, said the company was also considering how payment credentials could be used through future digital channels.

“We are looking beyond the card itself to how consumers will use payment credentials in the future,” Mukono said.

Kenswitch is exploring partnerships with technology companies and mobile-device manufacturers that could enable virtual Kenswitch cards to be added to supported smartphones for contactless Tap to Pay transactions.

Domestic alternative in a mobile-money market

The launch comes as Visa and Mastercard remain widely embedded in Kenya’s banking system. Banks including KCB and I&M Bank continue to issue Mastercard products, while Kenyan banks also issue Visa cards, particularly credit cards.

Kenswitch is targeting financial institutions that want to issue cards and process domestic transactions without relying entirely on an international card network. Domestic schemes can retain more of the infrastructure and economics of local card payments within the country, according to the source report.

Kenswitch also has a partnership with Visa announced in April covering payment solutions, merchant acceptance, payment processing, settlement and emerging payment technologies in Kenya.

“Through partnerships such as this, Kenswitch is positioning the local payments ecosystem to participate in the future of tokenised and digital payments while continuing to develop solutions that are relevant to Kenyan financial institutions and consumers,” Mukono said.

Kenya’s payments market, however, remains led by mobile money despite rising smartphone adoption and increased card use. The Central Bank of Kenya recorded 94.4 million registered mobile-money accounts and 575,400 active mobile-money agents in July. Agents handled KES 728.7 billion ($5.6 billion) in cash-in and cash-out transactions during the month.

By comparison, spending through prepaid, credit and debit cards, including card payments processed at point-of-sale terminals, totalled KES 38.04 billion ($293.6 million) in July.

Card and smartphone use continues to grow

Kenya had 11.16 million debit cards, 2.26 million prepaid cards and 340,852 credit cards in July 2026, according to the Central Bank of Kenya. Debit cards were up 4.2% from January, while prepaid cards grew by nearly 20% over the same period.

Smartphone access is also expanding. The Communications Authority of Kenya said 63.7% of the 78.7 million mobile phones connected to Kenyan networks were smartphones in March 2026. Smartphone penetration stood at 92.9% in December 2025.

Safaricom’s M-PESA GlobalPay, a virtual Visa card operating within Kenya’s mobile-money market, had 316,500 active users as of March 2026. It processed 8.5 million transactions worth about KES 12 billion ($92.7 million) during the financial year, a 38% increase in transactions from the previous year.

Nigeria provides a regional example of a domestic card scheme. AfriGo, launched in 2023 through a partnership between the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, had issued more than one million cards and processed about ₦70 billion ($52.8 million) in transactions, according to NIBSS managing director and chief executive Premier Oiwoh.