NAIROBI: Safaricom, Kenya’s leading mobile operator, has partnered with a number of banks to enable real-time transfer of funds. The partnership with eight more financial institutions enables businesses which use Lipa Na M-PESA to transfer funds from their Lipa Na M-PESA tills to their bank accounts any day of the week.
The new partnerships with KCB, Equity bank, Jamii Bora, Chase Bank, Cooperative Bank, Diamond Trust Bank, UBA and Consolidated Bank, brings the total number of banks which offer instant bank settlement for merchants to ten. Standard Chartered and NIC Bank started offering the service, which ensures the availability of cash or e-flat around the clock, in July.
“This is a progressive move in our pursuit to create a Cash Lite financial ecosystem,” said Bob Collymore, Chief Executive Officer, Safaricom. He said it only reduced the inherent risks associated with cash handling but also ensured merchants always had access to working capital which will definitely improve their business efficiency.
Over the last three years, tremendous progress had been registered in the bank settlement process, making it possible for merchants to access funds within the same day. This was however subject to bank’s operating hours and working days. “These partnerships therefore aim to reduce the time to a minute or less, any day, any time,” said Collymore.
Lipa Na M-PESA merchants can move between Kshs. 50 and Kshs. 50 million from their Lipa Na M-PESA tills to their banks, with no limitation on the number of transactions that they can make within a day.
The partnerships complement other initiatives introduced over the recent months to deepen financial inclusion and expand the M-PESA ecosystem by providing relevant products and services to our customers.
