CBK licenses 29 more digital lenders: Inside Kenya’s Sh165 billion mobile loan market

The Central Bank of Kenya has licensed 29 additional Digital Credit Providers, taking the number of regulated digital lenders to 281.

The latest approvals were made under Section 59(2) of the Central Bank of Kenya Act and follow another 25 licences issued in July.

CBK says it has received more than 900 applications from firms seeking digital-lending licences since March 2022.

Applicants are assessed on their business models, consumer-protection arrangements and the suitability of shareholders, directors and management.

Huge lending market

By August 2026, licensed digital credit providers had issued 9,596,509 loans worth Sh165.1 billion, according to CBK data cited in its latest licensing update.

The products are no longer confined to the small emergency loans that helped put mobile lenders on Kenya’s financial map.

Licensed providers now offer short-term personal loans, education financing, business credit, asset financing and development loans through mobile applications and USSD platforms.

The numbers show how deeply digital credit has moved into everyday borrowing.

A loan can now be applied for, assessed and disbursed without the borrower visiting a branch or filling out a conventional paper application.

But convenience has also been the source of some of the sector’s biggest controversies.

The CBK intervention

The licensing drive followed years of complaints about unregulated mobile lenders.

CBK has cited concerns including high costs of credit, aggressive and unethical debt-collection practices and misuse of borrowers’ personal information.

The regulator was given powers to license and supervise digital credit providers after amendments to the Central Bank of Kenya Act created a formal regulatory framework for the sector.

The result is a market where a lender operating without the required licence can no longer simply present itself as another ordinary mobile-credit business.

CBK has also told members of the public to verify whether a digital lender is licensed and provides an email channel for reporting unlicensed providers.

Tighter scrutiny

The expanding register does not mean every company that applied has been approved.

CBK says many applicants remain at different stages of the licensing process, with some still required to submit outstanding documentation before their applications can be completed.

The regulator’s latest figures also come against a broader shift in Kenya’s credit market, where consumers increasingly interact with lenders through smartphones rather than bank branches.

For borrowers, the practical question is increasingly less about whether digital credit exists and more about who is actually licensed to offer it, what the total cost of the loan is, how repayment is handled and what happens to the borrower’s data.

At 281 licensed providers and Sh165.1 billion in loans, digital lending is no longer a side business on Kenya’s financial landscape.

It has become a sizeable credit market operating almost entirely from a phone screen.