The world’s first mobile-only government bond in Kenya is popular, but missed its target

Monday, June 25, 2018

By Yomi Kazeem

When Kenya launched M-Akiba, a mobile-only government bond, last year, the goal was to offer ordinary citizens access to the nation’s capital markets. All they needed to buy to invest in the government bonds was a mobile money account.

Given mobile money is so ubiquitous in Kenya with over 27 million users—many of whom were unbanked—M-Akiba promised the government access to a new capital base. The bond offered minimum purchase amounts at $30far less than the $490 previously required for government bondswith 10% annual interest and a tenor of three years.

Photo courtesy of Erik (HASH) Hersman.

Source: Quartz Africa (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Finance
Tags
digital payments, financial inclusion, fintech