KCB Group has announced a significant profit after tax of KES 68.4 billion for the financial year ended 2025, driven by a strong surge in digital transactions and regional growth.

• 99% of transactions were completed through digital channels, underscoring the declining reliance on physical branches.
• Group CEO Paul Russo highlighted the bank's extensive reach, serving 34 million customers.
• Digital lending saw a 30% increase, with mobile loan disbursements reaching KES 544 billion.

Safaricom is implementing a significant privacy enhancement for M-PESA transactions, masking sender phone numbers in person-to-person (P2P) money transfers.

• Sender phone numbers will be partially redacted in M-PESA SMS notifications.
• This change is driven by Safaricom and aligns with Kenya's Data Protection Act.
• Recipients can request the full sender number within 24 hours, requiring sender approval.

Safaricom is now requiring a Police OB report and a visit to a physical shop to provide users with an unredacted M-PESA statement, citing compliance with the Data Protection Act.

• Users must obtain a Police OB number and visit a Safaricom retail shop with their original ID to get a full statement.
• The move by Safaricom stems from their interpretation of the Data Protection Act.
• This policy has been criticized as impractical for users needing to track personal finances, with users highlighting that banks do not redact information on their statements.

Absa Group has partnered with Thunes to launch Absa Global Pay, a new digital remittance solution designed to facilitate faster, simpler, and more affordable cross-border money transfers.

• The service enables real-time settlement to multiple international destinations, initially supporting transfers to the United Kingdom, Kenya, India, Malawi, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe.
• Key individuals involved include Nick Nkosi, Managing Executive for Transactional and Deposits at Absa Personal and Private Banking, and Simon Nelson, Chief Commercial Officer at Thunes.
• Absa Global Pay leverages Thunes' Direct Global Network to allow customers to initiate transfers via the Absa Banking App or online banking, with funds receivable through bank accounts, mobile wallets, or cash pickup points.