ABSA KENYA TO SPEND $23.2 MILLION A YEAR IN DIGITAL BANKING PUSH

CEO Abdi Mohamed confirmed the technology spending range during the release of the bank's 2025 annual results. "Typically, we now do KES 2 billion to KES 3 billion of investments per year in technology, and 2025 was no different in ensuring we are migrating transactions to digital platforms. We are making it easier for our customers to transact with us," he said. The bank spent KES 2.16 billion on technology in 2025 alone. The investment is already delivering results: 94% of all transactions now occur outside branches, compared with 40 to 50% a decade ago.

The efficiency gains from this digital push are visible in the financials. Absa's cost-to-income ratio improved from 46% in 2024 to 36.5% in 2025, one of the most significant improvements in the bank's recent history. Net profit rose 10% to KES 22.9 billion, supported by lower impairment charges, which dropped 32% to KES 6.2 billion, and growing fee income. Non-funded income rose 12% to KES 18.1 billion, helped by payments, trading and transaction-based services that thrive when customers are active on digital platforms.

The strategic direction is further sharpened by the bank's appointment of Sitoyo Lopokoiyit as Chief Executive of Personal and Private Banking in February 2026. Lopokoiyit, the former CEO of M-PESA Africa who oversaw the expansion of the platform to 60 million users across eight African countries, brings a telecommunications-style operating mindset to Absa's retail franchise. His hiring signals that the bank wants more than incremental digital upgrades. It wants to embed the platform logic that made M-PESA dominant into its consumer banking model.

Kenya's banking sector more broadly is experiencing the same shift. A Kenya Bankers Association survey found that 56.49% of customers preferred self-service channels such as mobile apps and internet banking in 2024, up from 45.7% the year before. Absa's aggressive investment posture is a direct response to that structural change in customer behaviour, as well as growing competitive pressure from fintechs and mobile-money-linked financial products that have increasingly captured the customer interface.