Kenya’s open banking journey is not a single policy announcement or product launch. It is a progressive, regulator‑anchored evolution of how financial data, infrastructure, and innovation intersect in a market that long pre‑dated formal open banking with its own digital financial ecosystem. Understanding where Kenya stands in 2026 requires looking at the history, the design choices, the challenges, and what the next few years might actually bring.
Kenya’s financial landscape has been shaped by the widespread adoption of mobile money, most notably Safaricom’s M‑PESA. Mobile money became a de facto layer of financial infrastructure well before discussions about open banking formalized. This experience gave the market:
Pragmatic data sharing norms between telcos, banks, and fintechs through APIs cultivated over years of integrations, even if not standardized;
A sense that data portability and interoperability were commercially valuable long before they were regulatory priorities.
That practical backdrop made the idea of open banking intuitive, if not formally regulated, when Kenyan policymakers began to articulate it in strategy documents.
In the National Payments System (NPS) Vision and Strategy 2021–2025, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) explicitly identified the need to modernize payments and financial services through API‑driven frameworks. This document did not create open banking in law, but it established direction: regulators want secure data sharing; they want to promote innovation; and they want better interoperability across banks, mobile money operators, and fintechs.
In parallel, the broader concept of open finance has gained traction through multistakeholder efforts led by the Open Finance Initiative (OFI), a partnership among FSD Kenya, the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), and the Association of FinTechs in Kenya (AFIK). This initiative has focused on research, dialogue, and framing policy options for how data sharing might work in practice.
Several key points about the policy environment:
Kenya does not yet have a dedicated open banking statute; data sharing falls under the Data Protection Act 2019 and broader provisions of the National Payments System Act. Regulators are shaping open banking by interpreting and layering existing laws rather than creating an entirely new regime.
The CBK published a draft open banking framework in March 2024, setting out an implementation timeline and technical expectations for APIs; full compliance with these draft rules is anticipated by December 2026.
The draft framework emphasizes REST APIs, secure authentication (e.g., OAuth 2.0), and modern message standards such as ISO 20022, aligning with global technical norms while adapting them to Kenya’s context.
A phased approach is being used: early phases focus on standards, pilot testing, and stakeholder engagement; later phases, now underway, focus on deployment and compliance.
This approach reflects the realities of a market with strong incumbents, diverse players, and complex legacy systems.
In Kenya, open banking is best understood as a transition in how financial institutions, fintechs, and payments systems work together:
Banks and payment platforms now support APIs, but the experience of developers and implementers varies widely:
Documentation quality and uptime are uneven across institutions. Some banks have relatively usable developer portals; others require manual contact to get access.
There is no universally applied standard yet, meaning integrations often feel bespoke rather than plug‑and‑play.
Industry workshops and sandbox environments continue to grow, but many integrations are still in pilot or early stages.
Several factors make open banking compelling in Kenya’s context:
Deep financial engagement: With formal account penetration already high and mobile money entrenched, Kenya’s financial ecosystem is rich with transaction data that can power new services.
Inclusion goals: Regulators see open banking as a tool to deepen inclusion, improve credit access, and spark competition.
Innovation potential: Financial management tools, account aggregators, custom lending products, and embedded payments can emerge when data flows responsibly with consent.
These drivers are broadly acknowledged by regulators, banks, and many fintechs, even as they work through practical implementation challenges.
Despite clear ambition and strategic direction, several real constraints slow rollout:
Regulatory complexity: Because Kenya is adapting open banking to fit within existing laws rather than passing a single, clear statute, there are ambiguities around liability, consumer protection, and enforcement that require ongoing consultation and refinement.
API maturity and developer experience: Technical readiness varies significantly across banks and payment platforms; this unevenness heightens integration costs for startups.
Dominance of mobile money: M‑PESA’s ubiquity means many innovative use cases have bypassed traditional banking APIs, leading to less commercial pressure on banks to open APIs quickly.
Consumer awareness: General awareness of open banking and what it enables remains low; without clear use cases and education, adoption will be limited even after standards are in place
Technical frameworks have been drafted and socialized, and many institutions are now preparing for compliance. API deployment is increasing, but the market still feels experimental rather than fully standardized. Stakeholder engagement, including workshops, pilot programs, and industry dialogues, continues to shape expectations and clarify requirements.
Looking ahead:
2026 remains a realistic horizon for meaningful compliance across regulated entities.
Consumer‑facing products (account aggregation, personalized financial management, secure lending interfaces) are likely to become more visible as standards solidify.
Open finance expansion into pensions, insurance, and investment data will emerge once basic banking data sharing becomes operational and trusted.
Kenya’s open banking story is less about a near‑term “launch” and more about building the plumbing of a data‑driven financial ecosystem in a context already rich with digital finance activity. The regulatory momentum is real, but the operational shift from strategy to everyday use is only now taking shape in 2026. This means more practical progress on APIs, clearer liability and consumer safeguards, and a slow but growing set of real products that leverage shared data with consent.
Open Banking Nigeria (Open Technology Foundation) is a non-profit backed by a group of industry experts across banking, fintech, risk management, and more to drive and launch the open banking standard in Nigeria.
