M-PESA continued to anchor Safaricom’s financial performance in the year ending March 2026, with total transaction values surging to KSh41.68 trillion as customer activity and merchant adoption accelerated across the platform.
According to Safaricom’s FY2026 financial results released on May 7, M-PESA accounted for 45.6% of Kenya’s total service revenue, reinforcing its role as the company’s single largest revenue engine.
The strong performance helped push Safaricom Group’s overall service revenue up by 11.5% to KSh414.1 billion during the period.
Revenue generated from M-PESA services grew 13.4% year-on-year to KSh182.7 billion, supported by increased customer usage and wider merchant acceptance of products such as Pochi la Biashara and Lipa na M-PESA.
“M-PESA contributed 45.6% of Kenya’s service revenue, growing 13.4% year-on-year to KSh182.7 billion, supported by higher customer activity and expanded merchant acceptance across Pochi and Lipa na M-PESA,” Safaricom stated in its FY2026 annual results.
The report further showed that the volume of M-PESA transactions rose by 25.1% to 46.41 billion transactions, while the total value moved across the platform reached KSh41.68 trillion.
Micro-transactions accounted for 17.1 billion transactions, representing 36.8% of total transaction volumes, underlining how deeply the platform has embedded itself into daily spending habits. At this point, Kenyans probably send money via M-PESA faster than they reply to WhatsApp messages.
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Safaricom also reported steady growth in its customer base, with active monthly users increasing by 14.5% to 40.99 million.
The merchant ecosystem expanded sharply as well, growing 71% to 3.1 million merchants, further strengthening M-PESA’s position in retail payments and business transactions.
Transactions through the Pochi la Biashara feature increased by 81.5% to 2.1 million during the financial year, while users transacting through the Lipa na M-PESA merchant platform reached one million.
Although M-PESA Ethiopia posted faster growth rates, Kenya remained significantly ahead in both transaction volumes and customer activity.
M-PESA Ethiopia recorded transaction values of ETB32.5 billion, equivalent to roughly KSh28.6 billion. However, Ethiopia registered 5.2 million active users over a 90-day period, compared to Kenya’s 40.99 million active users within just 30 days.
Beyond payments and transfers, Safaricom has continued transforming M-PESA into a broader digital financial services platform through its fintech 2.0 strategy.
During FY2026, the company introduced the Ziidi Trader feature, allowing users to buy and trade listed securities directly through their mobile phones.
Safaricom also expanded its digital savings and investment offerings, with assets under management through the Ziidi Money Market Fund rising to KSh21 billion.
At the same time, the telco is increasingly positioning M-PESA as part of Kenya’s digital public infrastructure through enhanced payment systems and APIs designed to support wider financial integration.
The strong M-PESA performance contributed to Safaricom posting a record net income of KSh99.7 billion for the financial year, alongside a 66.7% jump in dividend payouts to KSh80.13 billion, the highest in the company’s history.
