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

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Eighty five percent of Kenyans have adopted electronic payment products including bank accounts, mobile phone, prepaid cards or other payment products, according to a new study by MasterCard.

The study dubbed ‘A Progressive Approach to Financial Inclusion’ however indicates that even with the high adoption rate, only two percent of consumer purchases are made electronically, despite 75 percent of adults receiving money via non-cash means.

The report states that while Kenyans receive a large percentage of their income electronically, they are not using their electronic payment products to transact and are depending on cash to do so.

“Kenya has done a great job in enabling ownership of payment products, payment products are used for limited flows and haven’t significantly penetrated large dollar value such as salary disbursements and Point Of Sales, “ the report states.

According to the report, driving more transactions through the payments product such as salaries and purchases as well as assessing large current adoption usage gaps in other areas like lending, long-term savings and investments must be a prime focus.

MasterCard Vice President and Area Business Head James Wainaina says while Kenya is making significant advances in the ownership of payment products, there is a need to address the gaps in infrastructure and education, which will result in better adoption and usage of the payment products already in existence.