Airtel Money is stepping up its push into merchant payments in Kenya, rolling out a new integration with Absa Bank Kenya that allows small businesses to move money more easily between mobile wallets and bank accounts.
For many SMEs, managing payments across wallets, bank accounts, and agent networks has long been a daily headache. Transactions can take time to settle, and reconciling cash flows often involves too many manual steps. The new integration aims to simplify that process. Merchants can now receive payments from Airtel Money users directly into Absa accounts or via paybill numbers, mobile billing codes similar to merchant IDs, cutting down delays and improving cash management.
The move targets a persistent friction point in Kenya’s payments ecosystem while giving Airtel a stronger foothold in merchant transactions, a space still largely dominated by Safaricom’s M-PESA.
“This is about unlocking the full potential of digital payments for SMEs across Kenya and ensuring they have the tools to grow with confidence in a rapidly evolving economy,” said Renato D’Souza, Absa’s Business Banking Director, in a statement on Monday.
The timing reflects broader shifts in how money moves across the country. Data from the Central Bank of Kenya shows that while transactions through mobile money agents remain significant, hitting KES 633.35 billion ($4.9 billion) in February 2026 more users are beginning to bypass agents in favor of direct wallet-to-bank transfers.
Even so, M-PESA continues to anchor the market. Safaricom reported 21.9 billion transactions worth KES 20.2 trillion ($156 billion) in the six months to September 2025, underscoring its scale and reach.
Airtel is still a distant second, but it has been gaining ground. Its share of the mobile money market has climbed to about 11%, according to data from the Communications Authority of Kenya, driven by price-sensitive users and merchants looking for alternatives.
The Absa integration builds on that momentum, positioning Airtel Money as a more practical tool for everyday business transactions. It also reflects a broader trend: as more payments originate on telecom platforms, banks are racing to stay connected to those transaction flows and the opportunity to layer on services like credit, savings, and working capital.
Some have already made their moves. NCBA Bank operates M-Shwari, a savings and loan product linked to M-PESA, while KCB Bank offers KCB M-PESA, which provides short-term credit through the same ecosystem. Equity Bank, meanwhile, has taken a different route with Equitel, its mobile virtual network that connects bank accounts directly to mobile money services.
Against that backdrop, the Airtel–Absa partnership is less about catching up overnight and more about closing the gap,one integration at a time by making its wallet more useful for the businesses that rely on it every day.
