Safaricom is expanding M-PESA deeper into Kenya’s retail investment market as demand for mobile-based wealth products continues to grow.
The telecom giant said assets under management in Ziidi, the money market fund distributed through M-PESA, more than doubled to KES 18.7 billion ($145 million) in the year ended March 2026. Total wealth assets on the platform climbed to KES 21 billion ($162 million), according to financial results released on Thursday.
The growth highlights Safaricom’s increasing push beyond payments and transfers into areas traditionally controlled by banks, asset managers, and brokerage firms. After dominating Kenya’s mobile money market for years, the company is now positioning M-PESA as a broader financial services ecosystem where users can save, invest, borrow, and make payments without leaving the platform.
That strategy became clearer in February when Safaricom introduced Ziidi Trader, a mobile-based service that allows customers to buy and sell listed securities directly from their phones.
The move reflects how M-PESA is evolving from a payments tool into a full-scale digital finance platform. Kenya’s mobile money market is already highly developed, with M-PESA deeply embedded in everyday transactions ranging from peer-to-peer transfers to merchant payments. During the financial year, the platform processed KES 41.7 trillion ($323 billion) in transactions and served nearly 41 million active users.
M-PESA revenue rose 13.4% to KES 182.7 billion ($1.41 billion), contributing 45.6% of Safaricom Kenya’s service revenue, up from 44.2% a year earlier. Transaction volumes increased 25.1% to 46.4 billion, while transaction values grew 8.9%.
Safaricom’s expansion into wealth products also reflects changing financial behaviour among younger consumers, many of whom increasingly rely on mobile platforms for saving, borrowing, and investing instead of traditional banking channels. Retail investing in Kenya remains relatively underdeveloped, with participation still concentrated among institutional and high-income investors, creating an opening for digital platforms with lower entry barriers and wide distribution networks.
The company’s scale remains one of its strongest advantages. Merchant numbers on M-PESA rose 71% to 3.1 million, supported by the growth of Pochi la Biashara, a payment product designed for small businesses and informal traders.
Safaricom said it plans to roll out additional savings, investment, insurance, and international money transfer products in the coming financial year, increasing competition with Kenyan banks already battling M-PESA for deposits, payments, and consumer lending.
“In FY27, we will accelerate growth by deepening customer value through more personalised, affordable, and integrated propositions,” Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said on Thursday. “We will also scale M-PESA’s next frontier across merchant solutions, credit, savings, insurance, wealth, and cross-border payments.”