By Victoria Fakiya
Lagos, Nigeria: Sending money or running a fintech across African borders can be surprisingly complicated. Different licences, regulations, and compliance rules often slow down companies trying to expand regionally.
Now, the Central Bank of Kenya and the National Bank of Rwanda want to change that. The two regulators have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at simplifying licensing and expanding cross-border payment services between Kenya and Rwanda.
The agreement was signed during the Inclusive FinTech Forum in Kigali.
At the heart of the deal is a proposed “passporting” framework that would allow payment service providers licensed in one country to operate more easily in the other.
Today, fintech companies looking to expand regionally often have to navigate multiple licensing regimes even when the rules are largely similar, increasing costs and slowing innovation.
If implemented successfully, the agreement could make it easier for fintech startups and financial institutions to scale across East Africa.
The move is also part of a broader effort under the East African Community cross-border payments master plan, which aims to improve interoperability between payment systems across the region.
More broadly, the pact reflects growing regional cooperation around digital finance. Kenya’s mobile payments ecosystem, long led by innovations like M-Pesa, has inspired similar systems across Africa, and regulators increasingly see cross-border collaboration as key to unlocking faster payments, stronger fintech growth, and deeper financial inclusion.
This story is republished from Techpoint Africa
