PayoutsMarkets

Kenya Payouts

KES payouts to banks and mobile wallets

Use this guide when you want to send KES payouts to recipients in Kenya. Kenya supports bank transfers and mobile wallets (M-Pesa, Airtel).

Overview

  • Currency: KES
  • Payment location: KEN
  • Supported rails: Bank transfer, Mobile wallet
  • Payment methods:
    • Bank transfer → paymentMethodId: "banktransfer", recipient.type: "bank_account"
    • Mobile wallet → paymentMethodId: "mobilemoney", recipient.type: "mobile_money"

Required fields by rail

Bank transfer

FieldRequiredNotes
accountNumberYesBank account number
bankCodeYesLocal bank code
accountHolderNameYesName on the account
countryYesKEN
phoneNumberNoInternational format

Mobile wallet (M-Pesa, Airtel)

FieldRequiredNotes
phoneNumberYesMSISDN in international format
countryYesKEN
operatorYesUse mpesa or airtel
nameNoRecipient name

Top-level required fields for every payout: merchantId, merchantReference, destinationValue (with minorAmount and currency), paymentMethodId, paymentLocation, recipient.

Example requests

Bank transfer

1{
2  "merchantId": "your-merchant-id",
3  "merchantReference": "PAYOUT-KE-001",
4  "destinationValue": {
5    "minorAmount": 200000,
6    "currency": "KES"
7  },
8  "paymentMethodId": "banktransfer",
9  "paymentLocation": "KEN",
10  "recipient": {
11    "type": "bank_account",
12    "accountNumber": "0123456789",
13    "bankCode": "01",
14    "accountHolderName": "Wanjiku Njeri",
15    "country": "KEN"
16  }
17}

Mobile wallet (M-Pesa)

1{
2  "merchantId": "your-merchant-id",
3  "merchantReference": "PAYOUT-KE-002",
4  "destinationValue": {
5    "minorAmount": 500000,
6    "currency": "KES"
7  },
8  "paymentMethodId": "mobilemoney",
9  "paymentLocation": "KEN",
10  "recipient": {
11    "type": "mobile_money",
12    "phoneNumber": "254712345678",
13    "country": "KEN",
14    "operator": "mpesa",
15    "name": "Mary Otieno"
16  }
17}