Kenya’s largest bank signs up 1.8 million mobile banking customers since March

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s biggest bank by assets, KCB, has signed up 1.8 million customers for its mobile phone-based service since it was launched in March and is on target for 10 million users within a year from now, its chief financial officer said.

Mobile technology is seen by executives as the future of banking in the east African country. Other companies such as Equity Bank and Standard Chartered Kenya have invested in systems to let users access accounts any time.

The KCB M-Pesa service, operated jointly with telecoms operator Safaricom, allows users to deposit cash and borrow up to 1 million shillings ($10,400) for a period of up to six months via mobile devices.

“KCB has been able to increase its retail footprint by opening over 1.8 million new accounts,” Lawrence Kimathi, the newly appointed CFO said in an interview on Thursday.

KCB has lent more than 1.37 billion shillings to more than 400,000 borrowers on KCB M-Pesa, he said, adding the service was on course to hit a target of 10 million users within a year.

Source: Reuters (link opens in a new window)

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financial inclusion, mobile finance