Safaricom has announced the successful completion of a significant upgrade to its flagship mobile money service, M-Pesa, marking the most extensive enhancement since 2015.
The upgrade, which was scheduled and executed seamlessly, introduces Fintech 2.0, a next-generation core platform designed to bolster the service’s resilience, capacity, and innovative capabilities.
Safaricom describes Fintech 2.0 as a transformative step that positions M-Pesa to better serve Africa’s rapidly expanding digital economy and to prepare for future technological advancements. The upgraded platform will increase transaction processing capacity from 4,500 to 6,000 transactions per second, with the potential to scale up to 12,000 as demand continues to grow.
One of the key features of the new system is the implementation of an active-active architecture across multiple hosting sites. This setup involves multiple identical servers or nodes operating simultaneously and sharing workloads through load balancers, ensuring higher resilience and minimal service disruptions. The platform also incorporates advanced artificial intelligence to enhance fraud detection, enable self-healing capabilities, and facilitate real-time monitoring.
Built on a cloud-native foundation, the new M-Pesa platform promises improved performance, instant scalability, and faster deployment of new products. Safaricom emphasizes that over the years, M-Pesa has evolved from a simple money transfer service into Africa’s largest fintech ecosystem. The introduction of Fintech 2.0 aims to sustain this growth trajectory and position the platform for ongoing innovation.
“This upgrade is a bold investment in the future of M-Pesa and reaffirmation of our commitment to innovation, resilience, and customer trust. By moving to Fintech 2.0, we are unlocking a platform that not only scales to meet today’s demands but also anticipates tomorrow’s opportunities,” said Safaricom’s Group CEO, Peter Ndegwa.
