“Safaricom will drastically cut charges on M-Pesa to bank transactions by a range of between 23 per cent and 100 per cent at the start of next year as the Central Bank of Kenya pushes forward with its goal of making financial services more affordable. Banks and Safaricom have not been charging their customers for these transfers since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the waivers part of emergency measures aimed at increasing the uptake of cashless transactions besides offering relief to households. The CBK has been allowing regulated entities to resume charges on their services but at lower rates than before, with the transfers between mobile wallets and banks being the latest to implement the price reforms. While the charges have been cut substantially, their reinstatement will still boost the revenues of banks and Safaricom by billions of shillings.”

“Vodacash is launching its new service M-Pesa Rallonge in the DRC to allow customers to financial assistance from their cell phones. M-Pesa Rallonge is a new service dedicated to M-Pesa users with zero or insufficient balances. Users will be able to take advantage of this service to get an instant overdraft and top up their balance to make a transaction, such as: Send money without withdrawal fees; Purchase Credit for oneself; Purchase Packages for oneself; Purchasing Products; Resubscription to cable channels such as Canal+, Startimes, Easy TV, and Bleusat, except DStv, which only supports payment in dollars. As you might have already guessed, this is the same product as M-PESA’s Fuliza in Kenya, which allows customers to access credit when their balance is zero or insufficient for completing certain transactions. It has been around since 2019 and has since surpassed M-Shwari and KCB M-PESA in terms of revenue. The product has further seen its charges reduced substantially to cushion users from the harsh economic times.”

“Electronic payments firm Pesapal has unveiled a M-Pesa tap and go pay feature, allowing customers to pay for goods and services seamlessly. The Supertap platform enables Pesa mobile users to simplify Mpesa payments at the thousands of merchants using Pesapal Sabi POS machines. Customers can now tap their phones on Pesapal Sabi POS machines to complete Mpesa payments. Supertap eliminates the lengthy process at the counter where customers are required to key in till numbers or give cashiers their phone numbers to complete payments.”

“After years of speculations, political pressure, and internal resistance, it is finally about to happen- Safaricom and its mobile money platform M-PESA will become separate entities by 2023. Recently, its local competitor, Airtel Kenya, became the first to undertake this huge step. Airtel Kenya has already separated its mobile money business, Airtel Money, from its other services.  Currently, M-PESA services are still under Safaricom PLC, which pays tax as a communication services firm. Since when late Bob Collymore was CEO, the idea of a split has never settled well with Safaricom management. Past and present CEOs have maintained that it feels like a punishment to the company because of its success.”

“Safaricom’s M-Pesa platform’s active users have hit 32 million, this is driven by the need for mobile payment platforms by Kenyans. Safaricom Chief Executive Officer, Peter Ndegwa said.  “During the reporting period (April 2021 to March 2022), our biggest innovation, M-Pesa which celebrated 15 years also celebrated the 30 million customer mark-monthly active customers.  And I dare say that since then, we’ve seen another 2 million join the franchise.””

“Airtel and Telkom users will from today (Friday) access Safaricom’s pay bill platform following the upgrade of the seamless transfer of money through merchants attached to different operators. The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) will Friday launch the interoperability for the pay-bill service— the ability of different IT systems to communicate and exchange data —of the two rival networks for merchant payments.”

“M-Pesa virtual Visa card is undercutting Kenya’s commercial banks with lower foreign exchange rates in the race to get a larger share of the country’s cross-border payments market. The virtual card, which is initially available to more than 30 million M-Pesa users in Kenya, is charging Sh121.92 to the dollar for payments across Visa’s 61 million merchants.”

“The value of payments made through cards last year dropped for the first time in six years amidst the lockdown measures and continued preference for mobile money services. Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data shows the value of payments through point of sale (POS) machines dropped by 3.8 percent in 2020 to Sh157.72 billion from Sh164.09 billion in 2019. This drop was a reverse from the 33.3 percent and 22.12 percent growth recorded in 2019 and 2018 respectively.”

“The Kenyan parliament has published a Startup Bill in its National Gazette. Among several interesting provisions, the government wants to create a number of incentives for startups as well as protection for intellectual property. The Startup Bill 2020 is sponsored by the Nairobi County Senator, Johnson Sakaja, and provides a framework for the development of innovative entrepreneurship, the establishment of incubation hubs, and for building a network of local and foreign investors.”

“In Kenya, the first country where digital credit has gone mainstream, borrowers are learning that with financial inclusion comes financial risk. With dozens of apps offering short-term advances similar to payday loans, word of debt’s dangers is spreading from the office towers of Nairobi to the grasslands of Maasai Mara. People who once borrowed mainly from family and friends are now being bombarded with ads for quick money and calls from debt collectors. The market is largely unregulated, and there are no caps on interest rates.”