Although it started as one of Africa’s foremost mobile money services, the line between mobile money and traditional banking is blurring for Kenya’s M-PESA. Safaricom, the country’s biggest telco and owner of M-PESA, which dominates the market with around 90% share, is now targeting high-value transactions for businesses to lure them away from banks with higher transaction limits.
State of play: Safaricom has raised M-PESA’s bank transfer limit to KES 500,000 ($3,850) per transaction through its PesaLink mini app, doubling the previous cap of KES 250,000 ($1,925). PesaLink, operated by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), connects local banks and allows instant money transfers between accounts, turning M-PESA into an interbank payment bridge.
Still limited outside PesaLink: Regular M-PESA transfers between users remain capped at the usual KES 250,000 ($1,925) per transaction. The KES 500,000 ($3,850) limit only applies to bank transfers through the PesaLink integration.
Why does this matter? More than 675,000 businesses processed payments through Lipa Na M-PESA, Safaricom’s mobile payment platform, reaching KES 1.974 trillion ($15.2 billion) for the year ended March 2025, making this one of its fastest-growing offerings. The higher limits on PesaLink make M-PESA even more practical for SMEs and corporations managing larger payment volumes.
The big picture: With M-PESA supporting higher-limit transfers via PesaLink, it’s no longer just an app to send pocket money to friends and family; it can become a key tool for SMEs and corporations, changing how businesses can move money across the country.
