KCB Group is buying a 22.23% stake in Pesapal, the East African digital payments company, according to details released by Tanzania’s Fair Competition Commission (FCC).
This is the first time the exact size of the stake has been made public since KCB first announced the deal in November 2025.
At the time, KCB said only that it had agreed to acquire an undisclosed minority stake in Pesapal, pending regulatory approval. The price tag still hasn’t been disclosed, and the transaction is still going through regulatory review.
Why Tanzania Is Involved
Pesapal is a Kenyan company, but it also operates in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Zambia. Since acquiring a stake in Pesapal’s Kenyan parent company would give KCB indirect control over Pesapal Tanzania Limited, the deal needs sign-off from Tanzania’s competition watchdog too.
The FCC published its notice on August 21, describing the transaction as KCB Group Plc acquiring 22.23% of Pesapal’s issued share capital, which results in indirect control over Pesapal Tanzania.
The regulator opened the deal up for public comment, checking whether it could hurt competition in any Tanzanian market.
That public participation window closed on September 4, after the FCC gathered input from customers, suppliers, competitors, and employees who might be affected.
Pesapal’s Tanzanian arm is licensed by the Bank of Tanzania as a payment service provider.
What Pesapal Does
Pesapal builds payment and business-management tools for companies. It handles card payments, mobile money, and bank payment acceptance, and serves a wide range of industries including retail, hospitality and travel, petroleum, and manufacturing.
A Bigger Pattern for KCB
This isn’t KCB’s first move into fintech. The bank had already picked up a 75% stake in Riverbank Solutions, a Nairobi-based digital payments company, in a deal worth KES 2 billion.
Riverbank builds payment and revenue collection infrastructure for banks, government agencies, and retailers.
Together, the two deals show KCB shifting away from being a purely traditional bank and toward becoming a broader financial services platform, one that combines banking, payments, and business tools under one roof.
There’s also a financial wrinkle here. As Business Daily noticed, KCB’s latest annual report shows that Pesapal actually owed the bank KES 1.2 billion as of the end of December 2025, a detail disclosed separately from the acquisition news.
Where Things Stand
Speaking to investors in March, KCB CEO Paul Russo said the bank was still waiting for regulatory approval to complete the acquisition. As of now, KCB hasn’t confirmed whether the 22.23% stake has actually changed hands yet.
The FCC has described the deal as a proposed acquisition and says its investigation is ongoing.
If approved, the deal would give KCB deeper access to Pesapal’s merchant network across East Africa, and more tools to serve small and medium-sized businesses, an area the bank has said is central to its long-term strategy.
