Branch Teardown: A Kenyan Loan App’s 62-Day Funnel

Branch tells borrowers in Kenya they can repay over 62 days to one year. That one number decides which ad platforms will carry its app, and it explains most of what its funnel looks like from the outside.

This teardown reads Branch’s public footprint in Kenya: its Google Play listing, its ads in Google’s Ads Transparency Center, its Facebook page in Meta’s Ad Library, its organic search visibility, and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) registers that license it. It is written for growth and compliance teams at Kenyan lenders who want to see how platform rules shape a real funnel.

Why Branch, and how we read it

Branch is one of the best-known loan apps in Kenya. Its Google Play listing shows more than 50 million downloads across its markets and a 4.5-star rating. It also owns a CBK-licensed microfinance bank, which makes its regulatory position unusual among loan apps.

We are not Branch’s agency, and Branch is not a prospect. We picked it because its funnel is large, public and shaped by rules that apply to every Kenyan lender.

Everything here comes from outside. On 30 October 2026 we read:

• Branch’s Google Play listing (last updated 23 October 2026)
• Google’s Ads Transparency Center, filtered to ads shown in Kenya
• Meta’s Ad Library, for Branch’s verified Facebook page, in Kenya and in all countries
• Ahrefs’ Kenya index, for Branch’s organic search footprint (data dated 29 October 2026)
• CBK’s published directories of digital credit providers and microfinance banks
• The current ad and app policies of Google Ads, Google Play and Meta

This method shows exposure, not breakage. We can see what Branch publishes and where it advertises. We cannot see its ad accounts, its Play Console declarations, its spend or its results. Where a question can only be answered from inside, we say so.

The number the funnel is built on: 62 days

Three platforms draw a line on how short a personal loan can be before they refuse to promote it. The lines sit close together, and Branch’s product sits between them.

• Google Play does not allow apps that promote personal loans requiring repayment in full in 60 days or less from the date the loan is issued (Google Play Financial Services policy, read 30 October 2026).
• Google Ads allows personal-loan ads only for loans that require repayment in full in 61 days or longer, and says the policy applies regardless of the targeted location (Google Ads Personal loans policy, read 30 October 2026).
• Meta prohibits ads for short-term loans of 90 days or less. Loans of more than 90 days can be advertised to people 18 or older, with the disclosures the law requires (Meta Financial and Insurance Products and Services policy, read 30 October 2026).

“Allowed” means the loan clears the tenor line only. Disclosure, age and license checks still apply on each platform.

Branch’s Play listing says borrowers can choose a tenure from 62 days to 1 year. Its worked example is a 62-day loan. That floor is one day above Google Ads’ line and two days above Play’s.

The same floor puts Branch’s shortest loans inside Meta’s ban. A 62-day loan can be advertised on Google and cannot be advertised on Facebook or Instagram. Longer Branch loans, over 90 days, clear all three lines. For the full map of these lines against Kenyan lenders, see our guide to what Google and Meta allow digital lenders in Kenya.

Google: app installs, and search ads that sit outside the loan policy

In Google’s Ads Transparency Center, Branch’s ads in Kenya run under an advertiser named Branch International Limited. The center lists its legal name as the same, says it is based in Kenya, and marks its identity as verified. It showed 14 ads for Kenya when we checked.

Most of those ads are app-install units for an app titled “Branch Instant Personal Loan.” The creatives lead with more than credit:

• “Need an emergency loan? Try Branch!”, with “Regulated by the CBK” on the frame
• The Branch wallet: send money, buy goods, pay utility bills and rent
• Goal-based savings plans
• Paying for internet subscriptions

One wallet ad carries the loan terms in its text: borrow from KSh 1,000 to KSh 1,000,000 and repay in 62 days to one year. We come back to that range below.

The two search ads pointing to Branch’s domain are different. One advertises car loans. The other advertises SME payroll financing through a Branch salary account. Google’s personal-loan policy defines personal loans as one-off consumer loans and lists car loans and business loans as not included. So Branch’s search ads promote products that fall outside the policy that governs its core app.

We cannot tell from outside whether that was a policy decision, a keyword-cost decision or both. The effect is clear enough: Branch’s paid search presence in Kenya does not rely on bidding for loan-app searches.

What this means for other lenders: For a Kenyan lender whose shortest loan runs 61 to 90 days, Google is the only one of the two big ad platforms that will carry its loan ads at all. App campaigns send those people to the Play listing, which makes it the page that has to pass every check.

Meta: a 213,000-follower page with no ads

Branch’s Facebook page carries Meta’s verified badge and shows 213,000 followers. Its bio offers “instant loans up to Ksh 300,000.” When we searched Meta’s Ad Library for that page on 30 October 2026, it returned no ads, filtered to Kenya and to all countries.

We cannot say why. A paused budget, a seasonal plan or a policy decision would all look the same from outside. What we can say is that Meta’s policy would block ads for the shortest Branch loans, because 62 days is inside Meta’s 90-day ban. Ads for loans of more than 90 days, savings or payments would not face that line.

For a lender whose product starts at 62 days, Meta is not a simple “loan ad” channel. Any loan offer would have to be tied to tenors over 90 days, and the ad, landing page and app would all have to support that.

Organic search: the brand carries it

Ahrefs’ Kenya index, dated 29 October 2026, estimates about 3,200 organic visits a month to Branch’s site from Kenya, across 95 ranking keywords. Of the top 30 keywords by traffic, all but three are searches for Branch’s own name: “branch,” “branch loan app,” “branch customer care number,” “branch paybill” and similar. Those branded terms account for more than nine in ten of the estimated visits.

The broad category search behaves differently. “Loan apps in Kenya” has an estimated 20,000 searches a month in Kenya and a keyword difficulty of 49, with an AI overview at the top of the results. Branch does not appear in the top 10. The results are led by Tala’s Play listing and website, other lenders’ Play listings, a bank’s mobile-loan page and app-ranking sites.

That pattern is common for lenders built on app installs. Search finds Branch once people already know its name. It does little to introduce the brand. For a funnel whose paid options are narrowed by tenor rules, that leaves the Play listing and paid installs doing most of the acquisition work.

Where the funnel is exposed

These are four observations from public pages. None of them shows that Branch has broken a rule. Each is a point where a platform or regulator review could ask a question, and where a smaller lender copying the same setup would carry more risk.

1. The license category and Google Play’s Kenya rule

What we saw. Google Play’s Kenya requirements say digital credit providers must hold a CBK license and submit it, and that Play “currently” accepts declarations and licenses only from entities published in CBK’s Directory of Digital Credit Providers.

Branch lends in Kenya through Branch Microfinance Bank Limited, which is entry 2 in CBK’s Directory of Licenced Microfinance Banks (February 2026). It does not appear in CBK’s Directory of Digital Credit Providers (updated 9 July 2026, 252 entries). CBK announced in February 2022 that Branch International Limited had acquired 84.89% of Century Microfinance Bank, effective 1 January 2022.

Why it matters. Play’s published Kenya text names one directory. It does not say how a bank or microfinance bank should declare.

What we don’t know. Branch’s app is live on Play, so Play has accepted a declaration we cannot see. A lender licensed outside the DCP directory should not assume its own declaration will be treated the same way.

2. Three entity names across three surfaces

What we saw. The Play listing names the developer as Branch International Financial Services Pvt Ltd, with Branch International, Inc. in San Francisco under “About the developer.” Google’s Ads Transparency Center names the advertiser as Branch International Limited, based in Kenya. CBK’s register names the licensee as Branch Microfinance Bank Limited.

Why it matters. Play says it must be able to establish a connection between a developer account and the licenses provided. Meta says loan advertisers may need to show they are licensed in the country they target. Every extra entity name is a link a reviewer has to follow.

What we don’t know. How these entities are related on paper, and what documents Branch has filed with each platform.

3. The loan range is not the same everywhere

What we saw. One app-install ad says borrowers can take KSh 1,000 to KSh 1,000,000. The Play listing’s rates section says KSh 1,000 to KSh 300,000. The same listing’s description says “from just Ksh 500 to Ksh 300,000,” and another app ad says loans start from KSh 500. The Facebook page bio says up to KSh 300,000.

Why it matters. Google asks personal-loan advertisers to disclose terms on the landing page or app, and Play asks for them in the app’s listing. When the ad and the listing disagree, the listing is the record a reviewer checks against.

What we don’t know. Whether KSh 1,000,000 is a current limit for some customers, an older figure, or a different product such as business loans.

4. The representative example leaves out a stated fee

What we saw. The Play listing states a processing fee of 6% of loan principal. Its worked example borrows KSh 10,000 at 196% APR for 62 days, shows KSh 10,000 disbursed and KSh 13,260 to repay, and does not include a processing fee.

Why it matters. Google Play asks for a representative example of the total cost of the loan “including the principal and all applicable fees.” Google Ads asks for a representative example “including all applicable fees.”

What we don’t know. Whether the fee applies to every loan, or only to some products or customers. The listing does not say.

What a Kenyan lender can take from this

Branch has the scale to absorb these questions. Most lenders do not. Before you build an app-install funnel, check five things yourself:

1. Your shortest repayment period. Compare it with 60 days (Play), 61 (Google Ads) and 90 (Meta). It decides your channels before any creative is made.
2. Your license and the directory Play names. If you are not in CBK’s DCP directory, find out how Play will treat your declaration before you depend on it.
3. One entity, everywhere. Line up the names on your Play developer account, ad accounts, website and CBK license, or document how they connect.
4. One set of numbers. Loan range, tenor, APR and fees should match across ads, store listing, website and social bios.
5. A representative example that includes every fee. If a fee applies, put it in the worked example.

If you would rather have someone run these checks across your accounts, that is the first part of our Acquisition Audit. Our earlier teardowns of iwoca and InvestEngine use the same method, and our results page shows what we publish about our own work.

FAQ: Branch’s loan app and ad platform rules

Branch teardown: what we’d do next

Branch’s funnel fits the space two Google platforms leave open: its shortest loan sits just above both of their lines. The cost is a funnel that leans on Play and on its own brand, with Meta closed for its shortest loans and the category search held by others.

If we were advising a lender in Branch’s position, the first step would be the cheapest: make every public number and name agree, and put every fee in the worked example. That removes most of the questions above before a reviewer asks them. For how we approach paid channels for regulated Kenyan lenders, see our fintech PPC page.