M-PESA goes plastic: 50 million Kenyans will get debit cards following Visa partnership

This marks the second time in under two years that M-PESA and Visa have collaborated to expand global payments for their customers.

M-PESA, the ubiquitous mobile money platform used by 51 million Kenyans, is taking a pivotal step into the world of plastic. In a partnership with Visa, the global digital payments giant M-PESA will debut physical debit cards, marking a bold expansion beyond its virtual GlobalPay offering and setting its sights on the cash-reliant retail sector.

Until now, M-PESA only provided its customers with a virtual card called GlobalPay, powered by Visa. Those virtual cards were limited to online purchases and could not be used at Kenya’s cash-first retail stores.

Physical cards signal a significant shift for M-PESA, which has revolutionized digital payments in Kenya but has not yet significantly penetrated the physical retail space.

Credit and debit cards are unpopular in Kenya, and only 6.35% of Kenyans

over 15 have credit cards, while debit card penetration stands at 22%. M-PESA, which has a 97% market share, still has use cases like subscription payments, which can only be solved comprehensively by cards.

M-PESA deepens partnership with Visa

Visa, meanwhile, gains a powerful partner in its quest to expand its footprint in Africa. M-PESA’s vast user base and deep integration into Kenyan life offer a unique platform for Visa to tap into the continent’s rapidly evolving digital payments landscape.

Customers can use the new cards across the eight countries in which M-PESA operates. “FintTechs and financial institutions are equally set to leverage our card processing capabilities, empowering them to provide end-to-end mobile and card payment solutions,” M-PESA added in a statement on X.

For instance, subscription payments like Netflix and Google One are better served by cards. And while its GlobalPay cards supported these payments, virtual cards are notoriously unreliable and susceptible to massive fraud risks.

M-PESA’s physical debit card launch is a watershed moment for Kenya’s financial landscape. The race is on to see how effectively M-PESA can leverage its digital dominance to crack open the country’s cash-kinged retail market.