Eva Ngigi Sarwari, Equity’s head of payments, dies at 45

Eva Ngigi Sarwari, managing director of Finserve Africa and Equity Group’s director of payments and international banking, has died aged 45 while on a business trip to China, according to a statement from her colleagues.

Her death cuts short a career that spanned over two decades in banking and payments, from introducing customers to electronic banking at Co-operative Bank of Kenya to leading Visa’s business across three East African markets.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our dear friend and colleague, Eva Ngigi Sarwari,” her colleagues said in the statement on Tuesday.

They described the news as a “sudden and profound shock” and said they would make further updates as details became available. The statement did not disclose the cause or date of her death.

Sarwari joined Equity in January 2025 as group director for payments and international banking, with responsibility for executing the bank’s payments strategy across Africa. In April 2026, she became managing director of Finserve Africa, the group’s payments and digital financial services subsidiary, overseeing its strategy, commercial direction and operations.

The roles brought her back into a banking group after more than four years at Visa, where she served as senior director and country manager from September 2020 to December 2024. Her role covered three neighbouring markets, including Kenya, South Sudan and Somalia.

The appointments brought together experience accumulated across local banks, an international banking group and one of the world’s largest card networks.

Before Equity, Sarwari spent more than four years at Visa as senior director and country manager for Kenya, South Sudan and Somalia. From September 2020 to December 2024, she was responsible for developing and implementing the company’s growth strategy in those markets.

She joined Visa from SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s venture-building arm, where she served as a venture lead during 2020. That role followed more than seven years in Standard Chartered’s transaction banking business.

As head of transaction banking for commercial banking from July 2017 to January 2020, she helped shape the bank’s strategy for Kenya and East Africa, with responsibility for revenue growth, product relevance and digital transformation. Previously, as a principal in transaction banking, she worked with development organisations and public-sector clients across East Africa.

Sarwari moved to Standard Chartered in November 2012 after just over two years at Stanbic Bank Kenya, where she managed sales of transactional products and services.

She began her banking career at Co-operative Bank of Kenya in June 2005. As a relationship manager, she helped bring customers onto electronic banking systems, demonstrating products, overseeing installations and training users. It was practical work that would run through her subsequent career.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Eva’s family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time,” the statement added.

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Safaricom dismissed 118 employees for fraud in the year to March, even as fraud incidents fell 82%, pointing to a declining insider threat amid an intensified crackdown at Kenya’s largest telecoms operator.

The figure, disclosed in the company’s 2026 Sust a inable Business Report released on Tuesday at its Nairobi headquarters, is more than four times the 28 dismissals recorded in the year to March 2021. It equates to about 2% of the 5,648 people the report lists as employees.

Earlier disclosures put the tally at 95 in the year to March 2024 and 113 in the yea r to March 2025, so the climb has been steady rather than a one-off spike.

Insider conduct carries unusual weight at Safaricom as staff sit close to customer data, SIM registration and the agent network that moves money across M-PESA, Kenya’s dominant mobile-money platform. The report treats theft, falsifying company records, and unauthorised access to customer call records as gross misconduct that can result in dismissal.

“Our customers entrust us with their personal information, communications and financial transactions and expect our services to be secure, reliable and responsible,” Safaricom said in the report.

The report lists 118 fraud cases investigated and 118 dismissals, along with three disciplinary warnings, up from none the prior year. Referrals to law enforcement doubled from seven to 14. Fraud was the most common concern raised through Safaricom’s anonymous ethics hotline.

The rise comes as the company says its anti-fraud push is working. It cut fraud incidents by 82%, short of a 90% target, and recovered 46% of reported fraud losses. Monitoring and analytics also recovered KES 953 million ($7.4 million) linked to inflated agent commissions.

Safaricom said it moved from an investigation-led model to real-time detection covering internal, distributor and mobile-money fraud. The report does not break down dismissals by role, value internal losses, or say how many cases led to charges.

According to the report, fraud awareness training reached 5,643 people across staff, call centres, M-PESA, distributors and brand ambassadors, and 98% of employees completed the annual ethics programme.

Group Chief Risk Officer Nicholas Mulila said the company is committed to “embedding accountability across our operations.” Safaricom named in-person social engineering as the largest source of customer fraud.

The staff dismissals over fraud mirror what is happening in the banking industry, where sharper detection has also pushed dismissals higher. KCB Group, Kenya’s largest bank by assets, dismissed 60 staff for fraud in 2025, up from 34 in 2024, even as reported fraud incidents fell to 201 from 339, according to its sustainability report. Most of the 50 dismissals were in Kenya.

In May 2025, Equity Group’s chief executive officer, James Mwangi, said the lender had dismissed more than 1,200 employees after an audit of staff transactions, including personal M-PESA activity. Mwangi said the company would make such conduct audits a permanent practice, similar to performance appraisals.

Equity treated receiving money from customers as grounds for dismissal, a conflict-of-interest test wider than outright fraud. Safaricom’s figure covers only cases it investigated as fraud.

Outside finance, Kenya Power dismissed at least 20 employees over irregularities in the year to June 2025, including three who colluded with guards and drivers in a diesel-theft scheme that cost it KES 207.6 million ($1.5 million).

CANAL+ is struggling to turn around MultiChoice South Africa, the country’s biggest pay-TV operator, with revenue falling 3% in the nine months to September as lower subscription income weighed on performance.

The France-based media group is relying on revamped DStv packages and stronger content to reverse the decline. MultiChoice’s revenue fell 3% on a like-for-like basis to September 2026, according to CANAL+’s latest trading update released on Thursday.

The decline reflects underlying performance after adjusting for currency movements and changes in the scope of the business. On a reported basis, MultiChoice revenue rose 0.4% to €1.81 billion ($2.03 billion), benefiting from a material positive currency effect.

CANAL+ said the like-for-like decline was driven by lower subscription revenue in South Africa, partly offset by higher revenue in most other English-speaking African markets.

The decline moderated to 2% in the third quarter, from 3.4% in the first half. CANAL+ attributed part of the improvement to more favourable comparisons with the sporting events line-up in the previous year, rather than solely to the effects of its turnaround strategy.

The figures come as CANAL+ attempts to simplify MultiChoice’s offerings and strengthen the value proposition for subscribers following its acquisition of the South African pay-TV operator.

“We are making good progress with the MultiChoice turnaround plan,” CANAL+ chief executive officer (CEO) Maxime Saada said in the trading update. “In September, a new, simplified value proposition was launched in South Africa, providing subscribers with more content, greater choice, and better value for the same price.”

MultiChoice introduced the new packages on September 7, towards the end of the reporting period, leaving little time for their impact to reflect in the nine-month results. CANAL+ said the rollout would continue across English- and Portuguese-speaking African markets over the coming months.

The strategy comes amid wider changes to MultiChoice’s entertainment business, including the discontinuation of Showmax, MultiChoice’s subscription video streaming service, in April. CANAL+ has treated Showmax as a discontinued operation in its financial reporting.

The group has said it intends to continue investing in premium content, technology and strategic partnerships as it reshapes its entertainment offering. However, the latest trading update does not provide subscriber numbers or average revenue per user. This limits the available evidence on whether the changes are improving customer retention or spending.

At group level, CANAL+ reported revenue of €6.41 billion ($7.2 billion) for the nine months, up 37.5% from the same period last year. The increase primarily reflected the consolidation of MultiChoice following the acquisition, rather than equivalent growth in the underlying business.

On a like-for-like basis, group revenue declined 0.3%. Excluding MultiChoice, revenue increased 0.8% on a like-for-like basis, supported by French-speaking Africa and the group’s content production and distribution operations.

Africa and Asia revenue, including MultiChoice, rose 3.1% on a restated basis. But the figures conceal diverging performances across the continent: CANAL+’s Africa and Asia operations excluding MultiChoice recorded like-for-like revenue growth of 10.2%, while MultiChoice declined.

In French-speaking Africa, the group said subscriber growth was supported by a compelling content line-up and improved distribution efficiency. CANAL+ Telecom Africa, an African telecommunications and fibre broadband operator, also recorded double-digit revenue growth, driven by the expansion of its fibre-to-the-home network and stronger commercial momentum.

“We delivered a solid performance in the first nine months of the year as we continued to execute our strategy. Revenue was in line with our expectations, supported by strong momentum in French-speaking Africa and at STUDIOCANAL,” said Saada.

CANAL+ is also strengthening its sports offering to protect its position in the African entertainment market. The group secured exclusive rights to all UEFA men’s football club competitions across more than 40 countries for 2027 to 2031, alongside rights across Africa for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations and its qualifying campaign.

CANAL+ said it remained on track to deliver its 2026 financial guidance, including €735 million ($825 million) in adjusted earnings before interest and tax and €250 million ($281 million) in targeted synergies measured by adjusted earnings before interest and tax.