The Central Bank of Kenya has licensed 32 additional digital credit providers, bringing the total number of regulated digital lenders in the country to 227 and expanding a framework that has now overseen the disbursement of KSh 133.50 billion in loans since its inception.
- •The announcement, made on April 14, 2026, marks the first licensing batch of the year and follows the 42 licenses issued in December 2025.
- •Since CBK began accepting applications in March 2022, the regulator has received more than 800 submissions, of which 227 have now cleared its multi-stage vetting process, a licensing rate of roughly 28%.
- •Kopo Kopo Inc. Kenya Limited, the most established name in the batch, was founded in 2012 as a Safaricom payments partner to offer merchant cash advances to small businesses advancing lump sums against M-Pesa transaction history and recovering repayments as a daily percentage of sales.
Its license formalizes an existing lending operation rather than marking a new market entry. Kopo Kopo was acquired by Nigerian fintech Moniepoint in 2023 following Competition Authority of Kenya approval, giving the April 10 license added strategic significance as Moniepoint seeks to deepen its Kenyan footprint.
Other notable names include Inkomoko Capital Kenya Limited, the lending arm of the pan-African SME development organization, Izwe Loans Kenya Limited, part of the Izwe Africa consumer lending group operating across Ghana, Zambia and Kenya, and Hakki Africa Limited, which focuses on agricultural credit for smallholder farmers. The batch also extends beyond Nairobi, with Kechita Capital Investment based in Machakos and Quickflex Ventures operating out of Nanyuki, a signal that regulated digital lending is reaching secondary markets.
The sector's loan portfolio has expanded sharply since licensing began. Outstanding loans stood at KSh 28.90 billion in 2023, rose to KSh 55.00 billion by December 2024, and reached KSh 109.80 billion as of November 2025. The February 2026 figure of KSh 133.50 billion represents a further KSh 23.70 billion increase in just three months, with borrower numbers rising from 6.6 million to 7.5 million over the same period.
The licensing pace has accelerated considerably. CBK approved 32 DCPs across 2023, 53 in 2024, and 110 through 2025 across three batches. The framework was established in response to public complaints about unregulated lenders whose practices included high interest rates, harassment of borrowers and misuse of personal data.
A broader regulatory expansion is underway: draft Non-Deposit Taking Credit Providers Regulations published in 2025 propose extending CBK oversight to the wider non-bank credit market, with entities holding capital above KSh 20.00 million required to obtain a license and those below that threshold required to register.
