Kenswitch has launched Kenya’s first national domestic card scheme on 22 September 2026, describing it as a locally operated alternative for card payments. The Kenswitch Card was unveiled during Digital Issuance Unlocked at Strathmore University in partnership with TAI FINTECH and Stanchion Payments. The launch extends the company’s shared switching role into card issuance and acceptance.
A Domestic Network with Existing Reach
The new scheme allows participating banks and other financial institutions to issue locally branded physical and virtual cards on Kenswitch’s domestic network. That network connects more than 2,200 ATMs, 50,000 point-of-sale terminals and 80,000 agent outlets together with e-commerce and digital payment channels. Kenswitch says this gives financial institutions an additional option for processing domestic card transactions using local infrastructure while retaining interoperability.
John Mukono, Kenswitch’s chief executive officer, said the domestic card proposition strengthens Kenya’s payments capabilities and gives financial institutions another platform for card issuance and transactions. He added that the company is building with the future of payments in mind. As global wallets adopt tokenised credentials, Mukono said, Kenya needs infrastructure ready to connect securely and interoperably to these emerging experiences.
Tokenisation and Tap to Pay Plans
Kenswitch is designing the scheme to support traditional card payments and the shift towards virtual and tokenised credentials. Tokenisation replaces sensitive card information with a unique digital credential, reducing the need to expose a customer’s underlying card details during a transaction. The company is exploring partnerships with technology companies and mobile device manufacturers that could eventually allow virtual Kenswitch cards to be provisioned directly onto supported devices.
That would open the domestic scheme to Tap to Pay, enabling contactless payments through supported smartphones and other devices rather than physical cards alone. Kenswitch’s leadership said the focus extends beyond the card itself to how consumers will use payment credentials in the future. The goal is to embed virtual domestic card issuance and contactless capabilities into devices while retaining secure and locally relevant infrastructure.
Live Demonstration and Market Questions
During the event, Kenswitch, TAI FINTECH and Stanchion Payments demonstrated a working digital issuance application connected to Kenswitch’s card management infrastructure and Stanchion’s Payment Fabric platform. The demonstration showed how a customer could open and manage an account digitally and receive a virtual domestic card almost immediately. It also included freeze and unfreeze controls, dynamic security codes, and authentication through in-app notifications and email.
Despite the launch, Kenswitch did not name a single bank or financial institution that will issue the card, nor did it provide a consumer availability date or detail pricing and interchange compared with Visa and Mastercard. Industry commentary notes that Kenya’s card segment remains small relative to mobile money. In July, mobile money agent transactions reached KES 728.7 billion while prepaid, credit and debit card spending stood at KES 38.04 billion.
Regional Context and Unanswered Questions
Card use is growing from a lower base, with debit cards up 4.2 percent since January to 11.16 million and prepaid cards up nearly 20 percent to 2.26 million. Safaricom’s M-PESA GlobalPay virtual Visa card had 316,500 active users as of March and processed 8.5 million transactions worth about KES 12 billion in the last financial year. Kenswitch is not competing with mobile money directly but is seeking to give banks a local rail for the smaller card slice.
The launch also invites comparison with Nigeria’s AfriGo, which had issued over one million cards by September with central bank backing and named issuing banks from the start. Kenswitch’s private initiative does not yet show those advantages. The unanswered questions include which banks may commit, what interchange economics will be offered, and how the scheme will coexist with Kenswitch’s April partnership with Visa.
Kenswitch’s domestic card scheme represents a meaningful step toward strengthening Kenya’s local payment infrastructure and preparing for tokenised and contactless payments. The live demonstration showed that the technology can support fast digital issuance and modern card management. The commercial impact will depend on securing issuing banks, competitive economics, and clarity about its relationship with international card networks.