PawaPay Secures CBK Payment Gateway License to Scale Kenya’s Mobile Money Ecosystem

pawaPay’s group company, Quidexplus Kenya Limited, has secured official authorization from the Central Bank of Kenya to provide Payment Gateway services. This regulatory milestone allows the pan-African provider to settle merchant payments directly, marking a critical transition for the Kenyan market as it moves from basic mobile-money adoption toward institutional-grade transaction scaling and reliability.

What was announced

The Central Bank of Kenya has formally authorized Quidexplus Kenya Limited, a pawaPay group company, to operate as a Payment Gateway provider. This authorization empowers the firm to receive, process, and settle payments on behalf of merchants, providing a regulated foundation for its operations in one of East Africa’s most significant financial hubs. The move is part of a broader strategy to establish regulated mobile-money infrastructure across the region, ensuring that the company can support the increasing volume of digital commerce. Kenya is currently a global benchmark for mobile-money maturity, with 82.3% of adults utilizing these services. The market has reached a point where 55.8% of adults make digital payments to businesses, a rate that significantly exceeds the 20% average found across Sub-Saharan Africa.

As the landscape evolves, the technical requirements for payment providers are becoming more demanding. The authorization is designed to address the need for infrastructure that can manage millions of transactions without introducing new risks to the settlement process. By securing this status, pawaPay aims to enhance the reliability and interoperability of its services, catering to the growth of both domestic digital trade and cross-border transactions that require high-capacity processing power. This regulatory step ensures that the company can operate as a primary node in the Kenyan payment ecosystem, managing the full lifecycle of a transaction from receipt to final settlement.

"The challenge is increasingly shifting from adoption to scale, interoperability and reliability. As digital commerce and cross-border trade grow, payment infrastructure has to handle millions of transactions without creating new operational or settlement risks."

PawaPay

The companies involved

pawaPay is a pan-African payments infrastructure provider that focuses on mobile money integration. The company provides a unified API that allows international merchants to access various mobile money wallets across the continent, including M-Pesa, Airtel Money, and MTN MoMo. With a significant presence in the African fintech ecosystem, pawaPay has positioned itself as a specialist in high-volume transaction processing and regulatory navigation. Quidexplus Kenya Limited is the specific group entity through which pawaPay operates within the Kenyan jurisdiction. This local subsidiary is now the primary vehicle for the company’s licensed activities under the Central Bank of Kenya’s oversight. The group is led in the region by Freddie Omany, who serves as the Country Director in Kenya. By maintaining local entities like Quidexplus, pawaPay is able to meet specific national regulatory requirements while leveraging its broader technical infrastructure that serves multiple markets across Sub-Saharan Africa. The company’s focus remains on bridging the gap between global digital commerce and the continent's mobile-first financial landscape.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has extensively covered pawaPay’s growth and its role in the African payments landscape. In 2026, the company achieved a major industry milestone and was PawaPay Named Among CNBC’s World’s Top Fintech Companies 2026 Following 3 Billion Transaction Milestone. This followed reports that PawaPay Hits Three Billion Mobile Money Transactions as Daily Volume Doubles, reflecting the surging demand for its infrastructure. The provider has also been active in forming strategic partnerships to broaden its reach, such as when PawaPay Partners with Deriv to Support Mobile Money Deposits Across African Markets. Additionally, the company’s work in the remittance sector was highlighted when Airtel Money Africa Partners with PawaPay for Seamless International Remittances Across Africa, showcasing its ability to facilitate complex cross-border financial flows.

What this means

This authorization signals a shift in the Kenyan fintech sector from a growth-at-all-costs phase to one defined by rigorous regulatory oversight and institutional stability. For the industry, the Central Bank of Kenya’s move to license specialized gateways like Quidexplus suggests that the era of operating through loosely regulated third-party aggregators is closing. Competitors who lack direct authorization will likely face increased pressure as merchants prioritize settlement certainty and compliance. The focus on interoperability highlights the next major hurdle for the region: ensuring that the massive volume of mobile money can move seamlessly between different providers and across borders without friction.