KCB Group, Kenya’s largest bank by assets, is acquiring a 22.23% stake in payments firm Pesapal, according to a notice from Tanzania’s Fair Competition Commission that discloses the size of a deal KCB has kept under wraps since 2025.
The FCC notice, published on August 21, marks the first public confirmation of the exact stake KCB is buying. It gives the bank indirect control of Pesapal Tanzania Limited, the payments company’s licensed subsidiary in the country. The value of the transaction remains undisclosed, and the deal still requires regulatory clearance.
Regulator Opens Review, Invites Public Comment
The FCC said it has begun reviewing the transaction and is inviting comments from any party the deal could affect. Its assessment will determine whether the acquisition risks weakening competition in Tanzania’s payments market.
The regulator described the transaction as the “acquisition by KCB Group Plc of 22.23% of the entire issued share capital of Pesapal Limited, resulting in the acquisition of indirect control over Pesapal Tanzania Limited.” Public participation on the matter closed on September 4, after the FCC sought views on how the deal might affect customers, suppliers, competitors and employees.
KCB has not disclosed the purchase price, nor confirmed whether it has completed the transfer of shares. The FCC notice frames the transaction as still proposed, with the review and investigation now underway.
A Deal Disclosed in Stages
KCB first flagged the acquisition in November 2025, when it said it had agreed to buy an undisclosed minority stake in Pesapal, pending regulatory approval. The bank framed the move as support for payment and business management tools aimed at small and micro enterprises.
That investment built on an earlier one. Months before the Pesapal announcement, KCB had acquired a 75% stake in Riverbank Solutions, a Kenyan payments and business software provider, for KES 2 billion, roughly $15.4 million. Together, the two deals point to a bank building out a payments and software arm well beyond its lending business.
Speaking to investors in March, KCB chief executive Paul Russo said the lender was “waiting for regulatory approval to complete the acquisition,” as it worked to grow its merchant payments footprint across East Africa.
Pesapal supplies businesses with payment and management tools spanning card acceptance, mobile money and bank transfers. Its Tanzanian unit holds a payment service provider licence from the Bank of Tanzania, the FCC notice confirms. The company operates across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia, giving KCB a foothold in merchant payments across five markets in a single transaction.
From KCB’s 2025 Annual Report, Pesapal already owed the bank KES 1.2 billion in outstanding facilities as at December 2025, classified at amortised cost, separate from the equity stake now under regulatory review. That lending relationship predates the ownership deal, showing KCB had been financing Pesapal’s operations before agreeing to take a stake in the company.
Whether the deal passes Tanzanian regulatory scrutiny now rests with the FCC’s ongoing investigation.
