Your existing terminal
Works on the contactless card terminals already at your till. There is no RELI hardware to install.
RELI is a white-label overlay for banks, SACCOs, neobanks and MFIs. It puts the cards you already issue onto your customers’ phones, inside your app, under your brand and on top of the core you already run.
Built on Visa and Mastercard tokenisation rails (VTS · MDES)
Overlays T24 · Vision Plus · Way4
White-label from end to end. The customer never leaves your app.
Customers claim a handle once and send to a name instead of a number, whichever bank the recipient uses.
T24, Vision Plus and Way4 stay where they are. We add a layer on top.
The problem
Your customer already holds your card. At the counter the phone is in their hand and the card is in a wallet, so they pay by M-Pesa. The payment, the data on where they spend and the moment of contact all leave your app.
RELI puts your card on the phone through host card emulation in your app, with Apple Pay and Google Wallet next on the roadmap. The tap runs on your card, and the spend draws on the account they hold with you.
How tap worksWhen a till payment runs on your card, the transaction goes into your ledger. You see it, you earn issuer interchange on it, and the moment stays inside your app.
Every tap happens in your app, under your brand, on your card.
Merchant, category and amount reach you as card transactions, not as a mobile-money debit.
Issuer interchange on in-store spend that today goes past your card.
Merchant acceptance pricing for cards and mobile money differs. We model the economics for your portfolio during pilot scoping instead of promising savings up front.
How it works
A white-label SDK and API layer goes into your existing mobile app and sits on top of your core and card management systems.
The customer enables their card in your app, and RELI requests a network token through the schemes’ tokenisation services. The real card number isn’t used at the till.
Android phones pay by tap through HCE. Customers send to an @handle at another Kenyan bank, looked up through PesaLink ID and paid over the card networks, with PesaLink as the fallback.
For merchants
Merchants accept RELI tap payments from their bank’s customers. A RELI tap is a Visa or Mastercard contactless payment, so it runs through the acquirer you already use.
Works on the contactless card terminals already at your till. There is no RELI hardware to install.
Also works with SoftPOS (phone-as-terminal) rollouts from Kenyan acquirers.
The money settles to your bank account through your acquirer, the same way card payments do today.
Send
Customers send to a name like @wanjiku instead of an account number. The handle is looked up through PesaLink ID, the cross-bank alias directory, so it reaches the recipient’s account at whichever Kenyan bank or SACCO has mapped it.
The money moves over existing licensed rails: card-to-card through Visa Direct or Mastercard Send, with PesaLink as the fallback. RELI is a technology layer and does not hold customer funds. Your bank stays the issuer.
Request a pilotWhat banks get
In-store payments that go to mobile money today can run on your card instead.
Merchant, category and amount reach you as card transactions, ready for rewards, credit and service.
Spend and sends draw on the customer’s account with you. Money doesn’t move into a wallet first, and RELI never holds it.
Your brand on every screen. RELI stays in the background.
An overlay on T24, Vision Plus or Way4. Your card programme stays as it is.
Android HCE first, then Apple Pay and Google Wallet. Each stage goes live only after a controlled pilot.
Security & compliance
RELI is early-stage. We hold no certifications yet, and we are not a Visa or Mastercard partner. Below is how we are designing for bank-grade controls and the order in which we plan to put them in place. Each partner institution will review it.
Till payments use network tokens and limited-use keys instead of the card number, and the design keeps card numbers off the device.
In designThe architecture keeps cardholder data out of RELI’s systems wherever possible. Formal assessment comes before any production launch.
PlannedToken, push-payment and wallet services are reached through the issuer’s scheme membership and processors, subject to scheme approval.
Per partnerWe work within the partner institution’s Central Bank of Kenya framework and the National Payment System rules, and we engage CBK as each deployment requires.
Per partnerData minimisation, encryption in transit and at rest, and ODPC registration under the Data Protection Act, 2019. Data residency is agreed with each partner.
PlannedDevice binding, app attestation, step-up authentication and risk checks on the HCE path, with independent penetration testing before any pilot goes live.
In designEvery deployment goes from sandbox to a limited pilot. It reaches production only after the partner institution signs off.
We are working with a small number of Kenyan banks, SACCOs, neobanks and MFIs to shape the first deployments. Tell us about your card programme and your app, and we will propose a scoped pilot.