M-PESA, Kenya's ubiquitous mobile money service, is set to undergo its most significant upgrade since 2015 with the introduction of the new Fintech 2.0 platform on September 22, 2025. This upgrade by Safaricom aims to enhance the system's capacity, reliability, and security to meet growing transaction volumes and evolving customer needs.

• The new platform, Fintech 2.0, is designed to handle an initial 6,000 transactions per second, with scalability up to 12,000, compared to the current system's peak of 4,500 transactions per second against a 5,000 capacity.
• Safaricom's Chief of Financial Services, Esther Waititu, stated the upgrade is crucial due to rapidly increasing transaction volumes and evolving customer behavior.
• Key changes include a microservices design for easier updates, cloud-native infrastructure for enhanced capacity and reliability, and AI-driven capabilities for improved fraud detection and personalized services.
• Everyday users will experience fewer downtimes (promising 99% service availability), faster transactions, enhanced security, and smoother integration of future innovations like credit and savings tools.