M-Pesa transactions surpassed KES 36 trillion in 2023 -- more than double Kenya's GDP -- while traditional banks reported declining loan uptake among the under-35 demographic.
Mobile money is no longer just a payment tool; it has become the primary financial infrastructure for Kenya's informal economy. The platforms that control transaction rails now have unprecedented insight into consumer behavior, credit risk, and spending patterns -- data that traditional banks are only beginning to recognise as sovereign.
The next frontier is not fintech competition -- it is financial governance. Whoever controls the data infrastructure controls the credit story of 50 million Kenyans. As the CBK moves toward a unified digital currency framework, the question is not whether digital finance wins, it is who gets to write the rules when it does.
If mobile money platforms already hold more behavioral financial data than any bank in East Africa, should they be regulated as financial utilities rather than tech companies?
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