Safaricom's Financial Services Revenue Rises 55.3% to KSh7.1 Billion as Boniface Mungania Takes Helm

Boniface Mungania was appointed chief financial services officer of Safaricom effective November 1 after regulatory approvals, succeeding Esther Masese Waititu who left the company in July 2026.

In the half-year to September 30, 2026 Safaricom reported financial services revenue of KSh7.1 billion, a rise of 55.3 per cent, alongside 17.5 million credit customers, 3.4 million money-market fund customers and 67,500 insurance policies, the latter up 852.2 per cent.

M-Pesa generated KSh100.1 billion, representing 42.8 per cent of total group revenue, while processing 12.9 billion chargeable transactions, a growth of 48.2 per cent, and saw revenue increase 13.6 per cent to KSh100.1 billion.

Safaricom said 63 per cent of consumer payment transactions were zero-rated and about 81 per cent of Lipa na M-Pesa and Pochi la Biashara merchant transactions were free, with monthly chargeable transactions per customer rising from roughly 13 in 2020 to 51.

Mungania described M-Pesa as a “Techfin” platform that enables financial institutions to connect their products rather than a fintech that later adopted technology, and he does not expect it to replace banks or insurers.

He cited the Fuliza overdraft product, which facilitated KSh1.15 trillion in lending during the six months to September 2026, as an example of using transaction data to create new services.

Safaricom reported 4.5 million merchants in the first half of FY2027, a growth of 90.3 per cent, with 3.2 million using Pochi la Biashara and 1.3 million using Lipa na M-Pesa; merchant transactions reached 4.7 billion, up 52.6 per cent, and merchant revenue grew 34.6 per cent to KSh8.18 billion.

The company announced an October partnership with Pesapal to introduce NFC tap-to-pay and dynamic QR at merchant tills and set a target to expand Scan-to-Pay acceptance from more than 60,000 outlets to 500,000 within 12 months.

Discussions with the Kenya Revenue Authority on reverse invoicing that would transmit electronic tax invoices to the authority at day-end were reported in October but remain under discussion.

Safaricom’s Taasi Till merchant credit portfolio recorded a non-performing loan ratio of 8 per cent, prompting the firm to tighten exposure controls, use behavioural scorecards and purpose-led credit, and to rely on AI-enabled models with human oversight.

The number of customers eligible to borrow through Fuliza rose to 18.1 million in the year to March 2026 from seven million a year earlier.

The Ziidi platform held KSh25.6 billion in assets under management in the first half of FY2027, serving 3.4 million money-market fund customers, and expanded with Ziidi Trader in February 2026 and Ziidi Shari’ah with Gulfcap Investment Bank in October 2026, the latter allowing investments from KSh100.

Safaricom’s wealth management business reported KSh21.1 billion in assets under management for FY2026, providing a recent benchmark for the platform’s investment activity.

Mungania began his Safaricom career in 2007 as a customer-care representative after graduating in biochemistry from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, later worked on M-Pesa business and product development, consulted for Vodafone in Qatar, led the Payments Tribe and directed public-sector digital transformation, and received the Order of the Grand Warrior award.