Stanbic Bank Kenya has appointed Safaricom Plc executive Michael Mutiga as its next chief executive officer, marking another high-profile move of senior talent from Kenya’s largest telecommunications company to the banking industry as lenders compete for executives with deep digital finance expertise.
Mutiga, who has served as Safaricom’s Chief Business Development and Strategy Officer since 2022, will assume the role on August 1, subject to regulatory approvals. He succeeds acting CEO Abraham Ongenge, who has led the lender since March following the elevation of Joshua Oigara to Chief Executive of Stanbic Holdings and Standard Bank’s East Africa regional business.
The appointment hands Stanbic one of Kenya’s most experienced corporate strategists, bringing together more than two decades across investment banking, commercial banking, mergers and acquisitions, telecommunications and digital financial services at a time when traditional lenders are increasingly repositioning themselves against fintechs and mobile money platforms.
Before joining Safaricom, Mutiga held senior leadership positions at Citibank, Standard Bank Group and KCB Group, building a career spanning corporate finance, structured transactions and strategy across Africa. At Safaricom, he oversaw corporate strategy, business development, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, sustainability initiatives and regional expansion, helping shape the company’s ambitions beyond telecommunications into financial services and enterprise technology.
His departure represents more than a leadership change.
It underscores a broader shift in Kenya’s financial sector, where banks are increasingly recruiting executives from technology companies to accelerate digital transformation, customer acquisition and embedded financial services. As mobile payments become mainstream and consumers demand seamless digital experiences, traditional banking skills alone are no longer viewed as sufficient to compete.
Stanbic said Mutiga’s appointment reflects the lender’s ambition to deepen innovation while strengthening customer-centric banking. The board expressed confidence that his experience across banking and telecommunications would help guide the institution through its next phase of growth.
For Safaricom, however, Mutiga’s exit adds to a growing list of senior executive departures that have reshaped the company’s leadership team in 2026.
Earlier this year, former M-PESA Africa Managing Director Sitoyo Lopokoiyit announced his move to Absa Group. More recently, Chief Financial Services Officer Esther Waititu disclosed she would leave the telecommunications giant at the end of July to pursue new opportunities, ending a career that spanned more than a decade at the company. Together with Mutiga’s move, the exits have raised questions over succession planning at East Africa’s most valuable listed company even as Chief Executive Peter Ndegwa continues to steer Safaricom’s expansion into Ethiopia and broader financial services.
The executive movements also highlight how Kenya’s banking sector is increasingly competing with telecommunications companies for leadership talent.
Banks have historically recruited career bankers, but the rise of mobile money and digital commerce has blurred industry boundaries. Institutions are now seeking executives capable of building ecosystems rather than simply managing balance sheets.
Mutiga arrives at Stanbic at a pivotal moment.
The bank, part of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, has been investing heavily in digital banking, wealth management and business banking as competition intensifies from established lenders including KCB Group, Equity Group, NCBA and Absa, alongside fintech startups targeting payments, lending and merchant services.
His experience leading strategic partnerships at Safaricom could prove particularly valuable as banks pursue collaborations with technology firms instead of competing directly with them. The next battleground is expected to be integrated financial services, where payments, lending, investments, insurance and commerce are delivered through digital platforms.
Mutiga is no stranger to Stanbic’s parent group.
Earlier in his career he worked within Standard Bank, giving him familiarity with the group’s culture before moving through Citi and later joining Safaricom to replace long-serving executive Joe Ogutu as Chief Business Development and Strategy Officer in 2022.
His return to banking also reflects an emerging trend where executives who helped build Africa’s largest digital platforms are now being tapped to modernize financial institutions facing pressure from fintech innovation.
For Safaricom, replacing Mutiga may prove strategically significant.
Beyond overseeing business development, he played a central role in evaluating new investment opportunities, strategic acquisitions and partnerships as the company diversified beyond connectivity into enterprise services, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, healthcare and financial products. Finding a successor with experience spanning corporate finance, banking and technology could be challenging.
The leadership changes come as Safaricom continues to balance strong earnings from Kenya with the long-term investment required to build its Ethiopian business, one of Africa’s largest greenfield telecommunications projects.
Stanbic, meanwhile, is betting that digital expertise can translate into stronger customer growth and improved competitiveness in an increasingly technology-driven financial services landscape.
Whether Mutiga’s appointment delivers that transformation will depend on how successfully he combines the discipline of banking with the innovation culture cultivated during his four years at Safaricom.
What is already evident is that Kenya’s largest companies are no longer competing only for customers—they are increasingly competing for the executives capable of defining the future of finance itself.