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

Monday, September 8, 2014

Kenya’s biggest mobile network operator, Safaricom, and biggest bank in terms of customer base and reach, Equity Bank, yesterday appeared before a House committee on their push and pull over Equity’s bid to offer mobile money services, hitherto Safaricom’s honey-pot.

Equity Bank Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi led at least 25 of the bank’s top managers to the meeting with MPs at Parliament Buildings, while Safaricom sent two top managers. Each had an hour with the House Committee on Communication and Energy as they sought to understand Safaricom’s security fears over Equity Bank’s move to roll out a mobile virtual network with a Thin SIM.

Safaricom complained that Equity Bank’s technology was likely to threaten the security of its mobile money transactions, but when Equity Bank team met the MPs, it rejected the allegations, saying that as a bank, it had a foolproof technology, more superior that guaranteed the security of their customers’ transactions.