Kenyan businesses can now accept Pesalink bank transfers directly on Paystack’s checkout page, extending a partnership that previously focused on merchant settlements into customer payments.
The integration means the same payment rail that Paystack has used since 2025 to pay merchants now also processes incoming customer payments, allowing businesses to collect, reconcile and settle transactions within a single banking infrastructure.
The expansion reflects a broader shift in Africa’s payments ecosystem as fintechs increasingly compete on payment infrastructure rather than payment methods. Instead of simply adding another checkout option, providers are trying to eliminate operational friction after a customer pays by connecting payment collection, confirmation, settlement, and reconciliation into a single workflow.
“As demand grows for faster and more reliable payment collection across SMEs, online merchants and B2B companies, integrated payment infrastructure is removing friction between customer intent and business revenue,” Pesalink said in a LinkedIn statement announcing the partnership on Thursday.
The latest integration builds on infrastructure the companies have already shared. Paystack has used Pesalink, the interbank transfer network operated by Integrated Payment Services Limited under the Kenya Bankers Association, to settle merchant payouts since 2025. The new arrangement extends that relationship to customer payments, putting both collections and settlements on the same rail.
Customers selecting Pesalink at checkout receive a dedicated bank account number and a one-time payment reference, complete the transfer through their banking application, and receive confirmation once the payment amount and reference are matched automatically.
The announcement also marks a subtle repositioning of Pesalink within Paystack’s product strategy. When Paystack first introduced Pay with Pesalink in Kenya in October 2025, it presented the service as another payment option alongside cards and mobile money. The latest expansion instead positions Pesalink as infrastructure for business payments.
Pesalink connects more than 80 Kenyan banks and savings co-operatives and has been pushing its own expansion lately. In February, it partnered with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System to enable cross-border shilling transfers.
The Kenyan rollout mirrors Paystack’s broader strategy of adapting its payment infrastructure to local market behaviour. In South Africa, it added Capitec Pay in early March 2026, allowing customers to approve payments directly in the Capitec banking app instead of entering card details.
In Nigeria, it launched an early-access pilot in June 2026 that allows customers to complete purchases through AI agents like Claude and ChatGPT, built on top of its existing Zap transfer product, as it bets that AI agents are becoming a new interface for commerce, where people move from asking questions to completing real tasks.
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