The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has extended the operating hours of the Kenya Electronic Payment Settlement System (KEPSS), effective July 1, 2025.

According to a statement by the regulator, the extension aims to enhance the efficiency, accessibility, and resilience of Kenya’s payments ecosystem and support the transition to a 24/7 digital economy.

In a statement on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, CBK announced that the operating hours have been revised from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm to a new schedule of 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, effective on all business days except public holidays and weekends.

“Following extensive consultation with participants of the system and in alignment with the objectives outlined in the National Payment Strategy 2022-2025, the KEPSS operating hours will be revised from the current 8:30 am to 4:30 pm to the new schedule of 7:00 am to 7:00 pm on all business days with the exception of the public holidays and weekends,” read the statement in part.

The CBK stated that the extended hours will enable businesses, government institutions, and financial institutions to have greater flexibility in processing payments, thereby improving cash flow management and reducing end-of-day settlement risks.

Furthermore, the regulator stated that the extension will bridge the gap between traditional banking hours and the demands of a modern economy, facilitating seamless transactions across zones and enhancing Kenya’s competitiveness as a regional hub.

“By expanding the time window for settlements, CBK reinforces its commitment to greater financial inclusion, allowing more individuals and entities to engage in the formal financial system with ease,” CBK said.

Furthermore, the CBK stated that the extension is in line with global best practices, as central banks around the world are modernising their payment systems to enhance regional integration and improve the interoperability of cross-border payments.

Migration

This comes after CBK migrated the Kenya Electronic Payment and Settlement System (KEPSS) to ISO 20022, an international standard for electronic data interchange, in October 2024.

In a statement, the CBK says it predicts “significant benefits” arising from the migration, including “faster settlement times, streamlined processing, and improved liquidity management.”

First introduced for financial institutions in 2004, ISO 20022 is a framework for developing messages used in various financial services, utilising extensible markup language (XML), which facilitates communication between different financial systems and institutions globally.

The bank cited the system’s migration as a “key component” of Kenya’s National Payments Strategy, which previously saw the country’s Cheque Clearing House adopt ISO 20022.