The ups and downs of the payment service provision business, particularly in Africa, have been highlighted in two recent news stories: one involving expansion for SPAYZ.io and the other signalling the end of Pay U Kenya.

SPAYZ.io, a global payment service provider, says it has expanded its payment network to four new countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, with new payment integrations in Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and Tanzania.

Merchants in Turkey can access Havale bank (defined by accounting company Invest CPA Ltd as a bank transfer between accounts within the same bank) for pay-in and payout transactions.

In Egypt and Tanzania SPAYZ.io has introduced mobile money solutions, supporting what it calls the growing demand for mobile-first financial services. In South Africa meanwhile, the company has rolled out electronic funds transfer (EFT) bank transfer capabilities, providing what it says is a reliable and widely adopted payment method for local and international merchants.

SPAYZ.io will be launching services in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore in Q4 2025. In the UAE, merchants will soon be able to utilise bank transfer options for both pay-in and payout transactions. 

Explaining the potential of Africa in particular, SPAYZ.io chief commercial officer Tatjana Meluskane, says: “We’re not just watching the rise of digital payments in Africa, we’re proudly helping to shape it. These are still cash-driven economies, where the potential of digitalisation and online payments has not been realised.”

However, that potential hasn’t helped Pay U Kenya, which was recently stripped of its operating license by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) weeks after it entered voluntary liquidation – and six-years after it entered the Kenyan market.

The payment gateway, owned by Dutch investment group Prosus, which has investments in a large number of lifestyle e-commerce brands, was launched in 2019, offering digital payment gateway services that integrated card payments, bank transfers and mobile money wallets for online merchants. The company apparently positioned itself as a bridge between global e-commerce firms and East Africa’s fragmented payment systems.

However, as news service ITWeb Africa points out, foreign fintechs face strong challenges in the Kenyan payments market where Safaricom’s M-Pesa processes over 90% of mobile transactions and other players, such as Airtel Money, T-Kash, Pesapal and Cellulant, have a strong presence.

It also suggests that, despite its global pedigree and partnerships, including one with Cellulant, PayU failed to gain a foothold in the market owing to high operational costs, low merchant adoption and regulatory complexities.

PayU’s exit comes amid stricter CBK oversight under the 2014 National Payment System Regulations and heightened compliance demands tied to anti-money laundering and data protection laws.

However, PayU remains active in other African markets, including Nigeria and South Africa.