KCB Group, a major East African bank, announced its agreement to acquire a minority stake in Pesapal Limited, a prominent payment gateway in Kenya. This move is part of KCB's strategy to transform into a full-fledged fintech giant, following its acquisition of Riverbank Solutions eight months prior.

• The acquisition allows KCB direct access to real-time merchant data from Pesapal's point-of-sale terminals and e-commerce checkouts.
• This strategy aims to create a closed-loop financial ecosystem, enabling KCB to offer instant, digitized lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based on their sales data.
• The deal is subject to regulatory approvals from the Central Bank of Kenya, signaling KCB’s aggressive push to build a "bank-led super app" and compete with telco-led and bank-agnostic payment platforms.