Kenswitch, Kenya’s largest independent payments switch, has launched a domestic card scheme that will let banks and other financial institutions issue physical and virtual cards on its network, putting a new player into the country’s mobile money-dominated market.
The company unveiled the Kenswitch Card on Tuesday at Strathmore University, where it demonstrated a digital card issuance system built with TAI FINTECH, a fintech innovation venture affiliated with the university, and Stanchion Payments, a global payments technology company, it said in a statement.
The launch expands Kenswitch’s role beyond switching, connecting banks and other financial institutions to route payments. With its own card scheme, the company can now support card issuance and acceptance, giving financial institutions another option for domestic card payments.
Kenswitch is entering a card issuance market where global payment giants Visa and Mastercard are already deeply embedded in Kenya’s banking system. Banks, including KCB and I&M Bank, continue to launch new Mastercard products, while Kenyan banks also issue Visa cards to their customers, especially credit cards. In July 2026, Kenya held 11.16 million debit cards, 2.26 million prepaid cards, and 340,852 credit cards, according to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
Originally published by TechCabal.