Regulation and pay gaps pull fintech staff back to Kenya’s banks

Top Kenyan commercial banks that lost staff to fintech startups during the sector’s expansion from 2020 are now regaining talent, as licencing delays and retrenchments reduce the appeal of fintech careers.

Several bankers and recruiters told TechCabal that some talent who left for fintechs a few years ago are now returning to traditional lenders, attracted by improving salaries, clearer regulation, and job security. The shift has intensified since 2024, as banks expanded their engineering and compliance departments in response to rising operational risks, such as cyberfraud.

The wave of talent returning to Kenyan banks could reshape the country’s financial innovation, allowing lenders to develop digital products and payment solutions in-house and move beyond traditional banking operations. 

For fintechs, the shift highlights the limits of expansion without a clear regulatory environment and direct access to infrastructure such as M-Pesa.

“It’s all about job security. From 2019 or thereabout, fintechs offered professionals working in banks an opportunity for growth and better salaries,” said Simon Ingari, a career development associate at Opportunities for Kenyans, a Nairobi-based recruitment agency. 

“They are moving back because traditional companies have  better job security: salaries and the promised growth in startups are not guaranteed.”

Charles Ireri, a former compliance manager at Equity Group, said tier-one lenders were among the hardest hit during the initial shift. Banks, including Equity Group, KCB, Diamond Trust Bank, and NCBA, lost engineers, compliance officers, and product managers as fintechs such as Chipper Cash aggressively built local teams.

Ireri said many startups struggled to retain talent once licences stalled and funding pressures mounted.

“Banks now have the expertise and regulatory cover to innovate internally,” he said. “Fintechs can still experiment, but scaling is difficult without a licence or sufficient capital.”

Higher pay

Banks have also responded by raising salaries to retain and attract staff. In December 2025, Equity Bank increased salaries by about 20%, lifting its entry-level pay for permanent roles to KES 116,000 ($900) a month from KES 65,000 ($504). Other large lenders have adjusted pay bands, particularly for technology, risk, and compliance roles, according to Ireri.

Kenyan banks are among the best-paying employers in East Africa. Mid-level professionals typically earn over KES 150,000 ($1,160) a month, while managers pocket more than KES 200,000 ($1,550). In contrast, senior executives earn over a million shillings ($7,751), levels well above Kenya’s KES 20,000 ($155) average wage and increasingly difficult for fintechs to match.

The fintech sector’s hiring pull has weakened as expansion plans ran into regulatory hurdles. Payment service providers and remittance startups seeking to set up in Kenya struggled to secure licences, forcing them to scale back. Flutterwave reduced its Kenyan workforce by about 50% in 2025, while Chipper Cash scaled down to just two local employees.

The retrenchments followed prolonged regulatory uncertainty. In 2024, the Central Bank of Kenya said it would amend the National Payment Systems Act of 2011 to clear a legal grey area that has blocked fintech licensing. Almost two years later, the process of changing the law has not progressed, leaving payments and remittance startups operating through partnerships with banks or mobile money platforms such as M-Pesa.

That reliance has limited their ability to scale independently, particularly in lending, savings, and cross-border payments. While fintechs continue to offer professionals exposure to digital products, banks now provide similar roles within regulated institutions and with stronger balance sheets.

“Those who are returning are doing so with more conservative expectations. Most are prioritising salary certainty, compliance experience, and long-term stability,” Ingari said.

Ireri said the shift does not signal the death of fintech, but it suggests that in a tightly regulated financial sector like Kenya’s, incumbents with licences, capital, and pricing power retain an advantage even in the talent contest.