Kenya's Central Bank Seeks Powers to Resolve Failing Fintechs
The Central Bank of Kenya is seeking legislative powers to intervene in and resolve distressed fintech companies, a move framed as a landmark consumer-protection and sector-stability measure. The proposal would give the regulator authority comparable to its existing bank resolution toolkit.
Kenya Fintechs: the regulator who can walk in and take over
Kenya's central bank already has this power over commercial banks — and has used it. Imperial Bank, Chase Bank. Now the draft National Payment System Bill, 2026, extends the same logic to payment companies.
The mechanism is blunt: if a provider is failing, the Central Bank of Kenya can appoint a manager, strip shareholders and directors of all authority, and sell the business. Customers might still face a temporary freeze on their funds — the bill doesn't promise otherwise.
For founders, that's the uncomfortable read. A regulator who can walk in, hand your company to someone else, and suspend payouts while they sort it out is a different kind of oversight than a fine or a licence review.
But the alternative — watching a payment company collapse with customer money inside it — is worse. Kenya learned that with Tangaza in 2021. This bill is the grown-up response to that lesson.
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- Kenya’s central bank seeks powers to take over struggling fintechs · techcabal.com · T1