Safaricom in talks with CBK to let Kenyans buy T-bills and bonds on its app, after Ziidi Trader

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Safaricom is working with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to let customers buy Treasury bills and bonds through its My OneApp, chief executive Peter Ndegwa said on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

If it goes ahead, millions of M-PESA users could put money into government securities from their phones, the same way Ziidi Trader already lets them buy shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). The company has not given a launch date, a minimum amount or any fees, so the service is not available yet.

What Ndegwa said

Ndegwa spoke at the launch of the 2026 Safaricom Sustainable Business Report in Nairobi, the 15th edition of the report.

“We have started to democratise access towards buying shares and so on through Ziidi Trader. Right now, a large proportion of the volumes that go to the stock exchange actually goes through Ziidi Trader,” he said.

“We are now working with the Central Bank to see how we can also allow people to access the fixed income side of investment.”

Neither Safaricom nor CBK has published terms for the product. Readers should treat it as a plan under discussion until the two announce details.

Building on Ziidi Trader

Safaricom and the NSE launched Ziidi Trader on February 10, 2026, as a feature on the M-PESA app. It lets customers buy and sell listed shares from as little as one share, and it also offers corporate bonds. The platform runs under Capital Markets Authority oversight. Our guide on how to buy shares on the NSE compares Ziidi Trader with a stockbroker CDS account.

Before Ziidi Trader, Safaricom’s investment push started with the Ziidi money market fund, followed by a Shariah-compliant version. Government paper would be the next step, giving users a fixed-income option alongside shares and the money market fund.

How Kenyans buy T-bills and bonds today

For now, individuals buy government securities directly through CBK’s DhowCSD platform, or through banks and investment banks. Our step-by-step guide explains how to buy Treasury bills and bonds via DhowCSD.

The timing matters for savers. The 91-day bill was paying 8.748% in the latest auction (see this week’s Treasury bill rates), and CBK has reopened KSh50bn in 15- and 30-year bonds with bids closing on November 4. If you’re still deciding which fits you, read our comparison of Treasury bills, bonds and infrastructure bonds and our money market fund vs T-bills guide.

What else the report showed

The 2026 report puts the value Safaricom’s activities created for Kenyan society at KSh1.247trn, about 10% more than the previous year, with a direct economic impact of KSh654bn. The company says it sustained 1.4 million jobs across its ecosystem, including 70,000 new ones in the year.

The Safaricom Foundation reached 4.4 million people, and the company planted more than 600,000 trees in the year, taking its total past three million. Safaricom also says 94% of attempted digital fraud was stopped before it happened, helped by artificial intelligence. Our earlier story covers the report’s value and emissions figures in more detail.

What to watch

The key questions are the minimum investment, whether buyers will hold securities in their own CDS accounts at CBK, what fees Safaricom will charge, and whether the service will cover new auctions, secondary-market trading or both. We will update this story when Safaricom or CBK publishes the terms.