NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Kenyan banks fought tooth and nail to have M-Pesa shut down one year after its launch as its popularity was spreading like bushfire and posed a threat to their operations, a new book launched last evening reveals.

The book titled ’Money, Real Quick: Kenya’s Disruptive Mobile Money Innovation” says that the Central Bank was forced to hire an IT consultant one year after the launch of M-Peesa to conduct an operational risk audit before allowing the mobile money transfer platform to continue operating.

This followed an order by the the Finance minister, the late John Michuki after complaints from an informal cartel of local banks unhappy with the threat posed by M-Pesa to their business.