Absa Bank Kenya launched a digital banking platform that combines savings, investments, credit and payments, as the lender seeks to expand its digital customer base and compete with fintech companies in one of Africa’s most advanced mobile-money markets.
TechMoran is reporting that Absa Next is available to existing Absa customers and non-customers and allows users to manage personal and business finances, link Absa and non-Absa Visa cards, aggregate accounts from other financial institutions and split expenses with family and friends.
The platform offers savings of up to 7% and investment products with returns of up to 16%, according to the bank. Customers can also access instant credit ranging from KSh500 ($3.86) to KSh1 million ($7,722) for personal or business needs.
Absa said the platform uses alternative credit-scoring capabilities to assess customers and broaden access to lending.
“Rather than digitising traditional banking, we have reimagined the banking experience around our customers’ goals, behaviours and aspirations with Absa Next,” Absa Bank Kenya Chief Executive Officer Yusuf Omari said at the launch.
The launch builds on a rapid shift toward digital transactions at Absa Kenya. Digital channels accounted for 93.6% of the bank’s transaction volumes in 2024, up from 86.5% in 2021, while 28% of customers were onboarded through digital channels, according to the bank.
Absa’s Timiza digital lending platform disbursed KSh25.1 billion ($193.8 million) in loans in 2024, up 21% from KSh20.7 billion ($159.8 million) a year earlier. Timiza accounted for 8.1% of the bank’s total loan disbursements.
Digital savings on Timiza rose 67% during the year.
Absa said it invested KSh3 billion ($23.2 million) in 2024 in core banking modernisation, back-office automation and the digitisation of customer journeys, including onboarding and lending.
In 2025, the bank invested a further KSh1.16 billion ($9 million) in technology, according to its latest disclosures. It said 94% of transactions were conducted through alternative channels during the year.
The move comes as Kenyan banks increasingly compete with mobile-money services, digital lenders and fintech companies for payments, deposits and consumer credit.
Kenya’s mobile-money market is dominated by Safaricom’s M-Pesa, while banks have invested heavily in mobile applications and digital lending to retain customers and reduce reliance on physical branches.
Absa Group Chief Executive for Personal and Private Banking Sitoyo Lopokoiyit said Kenya’s financial technology ecosystem made it a natural market to introduce the platform.
“Kenya has consistently demonstrated its ability to develop innovations that solve real customer challenges and influence financial services across the continent,” Lopokoiyit said.
Absa Next also incorporates goal-based and gamified savings tools and open-banking features, allowing customers to view accounts held with different financial institutions in one place.
The bank said the platform is intended to bring banking, savings, investments and credit into a single digital interface as customers increasingly use mobile channels for financial services.
