WayaWaya Bets AI Banking Can Outflank M-Pesa's 88.8% Grip

By Olivia Hart

WayaWaya, a Kenyan AI financial-services company, has signed microfinance bank Choice Bank to launch regulated banking inside its app — in a market where Safaricom's M-PESA already controls 88.8% of mobile money. The partnership agreement was signed in Nairobi on Friday, 6 November 2026.

The new service, WayaWaya Banking, lets customers open accounts, hold funds in multiple currencies, make local and international transfers, and pay utilities. The platform operates under Central Bank of Kenya regulation. Choice Bank supplies the licensed banking infrastructure; WayaWaya builds the technology and runs the customer experience.

The deal is the latest in a sequence of governance moves. In July 2026, the company appointed Raj Singh, former Group Chief Operating Officer and Director of Retail Banking at Chase Bank Kenya, as non-executive director and board adviser. Founder and CEO Teddy Ogallo then called the appointment "an important point" in the company's growth.

What does the AI actually do?

WayaWaya brands its approach "Intelligent Adaptive Banking." The AI analyses incoming and outgoing transactions, spending behaviour, account balances, payment frequency and recurring transactions. It then decides which services appear most prominently for each user — and adapts as circumstances change.

"Whether you are an entrepreneur, a salaried professional or an investor, your banking experience should reflect what you actually need to accomplish financially," Ogallo said in a statement on Friday.

The company gives a concrete example: a salaried customer who starts a business could see the platform detect the shift and push tools for receiving business payments and tracking expenses to the top of the interface. "Traditionally, banks build applications around products and expect customers to adapt to them. We believe the future should be the opposite: banking should adapt to the customer," Ogallo said.

There is a caveat, and it comes from the CEO himself. Ogallo acknowledged that individual transactions do not always provide the full context of someone's financial behaviour, and said the technology is intended to surface relevant services while leaving customers in control. How that balance works in practice — and what the model does when it guesses wrong — remains unspecified.

Who provides the licence?

Choice Bank is the regulatory anchor. The microfinance bank offers API banking solutions, banking-as-a-service, private banking and foreign exchange. "Through this partnership, Choice Bank will provide the banking infrastructure that enables WayaWaya users to access banking services within the app," said Patrick Russel, Choice Bank's chief commercial officer. "WayaWaya can then tailor how those services are presented to a business owner managing daily collections or an individual setting money aside."

Russel, Singh and Ogallo attended Friday's signing. Founded in 2016, WayaWaya develops digital banking tools for individuals and businesses.

Can it compete with M-PESA?

The market math is stark. Kenya counted 54 million mobile money subscriptions in June 2026, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya. M-PESA held 88.8% of them; Airtel Money held 11.1%. Those two figures roughly exhaust the market.

WayaWaya concedes the point and redefines the contest. "M-Pesa transformed how Kenyans transact, and we recognise that contribution. Our ambition is different. We are bringing together broader banking capabilities, including multi-currency accounts, local and international transfers and utility payments, within an intelligent banking environment," Ogallo said.

"What differentiates WayaWaya is that we don't just provide financial services; we are building technology that adapts how customers access and experience those services," he said.

What about expansion?

The company says it wants to take the model beyond Kenya, working with banks and infrastructure providers in other African markets. "A business expanding from Kenya into Nigeria or Uganda should not have to navigate an entirely disconnected financial experience in every market," Ogallo said.

That ambition carries conditions the company itself names: each new market requires local banking partnerships and regulatory approvals. Until those land, WayaWaya's pan-African thesis rests on one Kenyan licence and a personalisation engine whose accuracy at scale is still unproven.