Ziidi Trader now accepts passports and military IDs to open accounts

Safaricom has opened Ziidi Trader to M-PESA users who registered their lines using passports or military IDs, removing a requirement that had previously limited the NSE trading service to customers with Kenyan national IDs.

Until now, opening a Ziidi Trader account required users to provide a Kenyan national ID matching the document used to register their M-PESA line. That left out customers whose lines were registered using other documents, even if they had been active M-PESA users for years.

Safaricom now says Ziidi Trader accepts four document types:

• Kenyan national ID
• Kenyan passport
• Military ID
• Foreign passport

The change particularly affects Kenya Defence Forces personnel whose M-PESA lines are registered using military IDs, as well as foreign residents who registered using passports.

Both groups could already use M-PESA to send and receive money, pay bills and access other services. But they could not use that same account to buy shares through Ziidi Trader.

Ziidi Trader launched to all eligible M-PESA users on February 5, 2026, following a pilot that began in November 2025. The service, developed in partnership with the Nairobi Securities Exchange, allows users to buy and sell NSE-listed shares through M-PESA.

The expansion changes the documents users can use to open an account, but the other eligibility requirements remain in place. Applicants must be at least 18 years old and have been active, registered M-PESA customers for at least three months.

The update opens Ziidi Trader to a relatively small but previously excluded group of M-PESA users, bringing access to the stock market closer to the broader range of identification documents Safaricom already accepts across its mobile money ecosystem.