M-Pesa is now Safaricom's biggest business. Savings and insurance are next
M-Pesa has grown from a money-transfer service into Safaricom's biggest business. Now Safaricom wants it to hold Kenyans' savings and investments too — a move that puts it directly against the banks.
Key points
- M-Pesa revenue rose 13.4% to KSh 182.7 billion in the year to March 2026.
- It now makes up 45.6% of Safaricom's Kenya service revenue — the single largest line.
- The platform processed 46.4 billion transactions worth KSh 41.7 trillion.
- Safaricom plans savings, investment and insurance inside M-Pesa — but has given no launch dates or prices.
What happened
M-Pesa began as a way to send money by phone. In the year to March 2026 it processed 46.4 billion transactions worth KSh 41.7 trillion, and its revenue grew 13.4% to KSh 182.7 billion — making it the largest part of Safaricom's Kenya business. One-month active customers reached about 41 million.
Safaricom's chief executive used an October 2026 interview to set out the next step: turning M-Pesa from a payments platform into the place where Kenyans also save, invest and buy insurance, putting it in direct competition with banks, insurers and fintechs. Parts of that plan already exist — the Ziidi money market fund inside M-Pesa, and Ziidi Trader, which lets users buy and sell listed shares from the app — but dates and prices for the wider savings and insurance push have not been announced.
Claim by claim
Why this label: Safaricom's own results for the year to 31 March 2026, released in May 2026. Company-reported figures, carried by multiple outlets.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The same results release: M-Pesa is now 45.6% of Safaricom's Kenya service revenue — the company's single largest line.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The results release and the CEO's October 2026 interview both describe the same plan: payments first, then savings, investment and insurance inside M-Pesa.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The CEO said launch dates and prices for the new savings and insurance products have not been given. Until they are announced, the timeline is a claim, not a fact.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- FY2026 M-Pesa revenue, share of service revenue and transaction volumes (company results).
- Ziidi and Ziidi Trader are already live inside M-Pesa.
- The CEO has announced the savings/investment/insurance direction publicly.
What we don't know yet
- When the new savings and insurance products will launch, or what they will cost.
- Whether banks and insurers will win the fight for customers' savings inside the app.
Why it matters
Mobile money is how most Kenyans already handle cash. If the same app also holds their savings and sells them insurance, it reshapes who controls household finance in Kenya — and it is a model other African markets are watching closely.
Update history
No silent edits. Every change is written here, with its time.
- Latest
Story published after the October 2026 CEO interview set out the savings plan.