Nairobi, Kenya – The familiar wait for a long weekend to end before your salary hits your bank account is quickly becoming a thing of the past for millions of Kenyans.
This quiet revolution in personal finance is being led by Pesalink, the real-time interbank switch that seamlessly connects Kenya’s financial institutions and, in doing so, is transforming the way money moves.
Ease of money transfer
In an exclusive interview with News Nine, Pesalink CEO Gituku Kirika explained how the platform is not just about convenience, but also about meaningful financial inclusion.
At the core of Pesalink’s impact is its role in salary disbursements. For many, payday sets the pace of life—when rent is paid, when groceries are bought, and when financial stress can be relieved.
“The ability to get money to those who need it most, especially the most vulnerable, and to get it to them on time is very important,” Kirika said.
The numbers speak for themselves. An impressive 74% of all transactions processed through Pesalink are for amounts below KSh 25,000.
“This means that a significant number of employed Kenyans can receive their money promptly, without having to wait. You can receive your salary on a Saturday morning, or even on a Sunday. This can make a huge difference in their lives,” Kirika noted.
This 24/7 availability ensures that financial liquidity is no longer restricted by traditional banking hours, providing a critical lifeline for a large segment of the workforce.
Beyond timely salaries, Pesalink is systematically dismantling the walled gardens of Kenya’s financial ecosystem.
Opening up Kenya’s payment system
Kirika highlighted the company’s mission to “open up ecosystems” by working closely with its participants—a network of 39 banks, SACCOs, telcos, and fintechs.
This interoperability means that a customer can use any agent location or pay any merchant, regardless of where they hold their money.
“As long as I have a store of value—a bank account or mobile money wallet from any of the participants of Pesalink—then I would be able to pay any merchant or any other Pesalink participant,” he said.
This creates a fluid and unified payment landscape, increasing access to financial services and empowering consumers with greater choice and flexibility.
While Pesalink’s network includes banks with a significant presence across East Africa, Kirika clarified that the platform is intentionally a “domestic player.”
He explained that payment switches operate in an area of immense national and sovereign interest, involving critical security, safety, and data concerns.
“You’ll find that for what we do as a switch, every other country will do it themselves,” he stated, noting that most countries prefer to build their own national switches led by local regulators and financial communities.
How Pesalink facilitates global payments
However, being a domestic champion does not limit Pesalink’s global relevance. Instead, it has strategically positioned itself as the crucial “last mile” for international remittances into Kenya.
Kirika cited the recent integration with NALA, an international money transfer operator.
“With a single connection to us, they can send money to any bank account, telco wallet, or fintech wallet within the Pesalink ecosystem,” he said.
This removes the need for international players to establish costly, individual connections to every financial institution in the country.
The CEO disclosed ongoing efforts to integrate with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPS), which will allow banks, fintechs, and telco wallets in the Pesalink network to access PAPS’s rails, enabling smoother cross-border payments and positioning Kenya as a key hub in Africa’s evolving financial architecture.
From ensuring a worker receives their salary on a Sunday morning to facilitating complex Pan-African settlements, Pesalink is proving to be more than just a payment system; it is essential infrastructure, weaving a new, more inclusive, and instantly accessible financial fabric for all Kenyans.
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