STRATEGIC PARTNERS
April 21, 2003
KENYA -- Small and medium-sized banks in Kenya are launching shared ATM services, according to the Financial Standard.
The move will link the ATMs of 20 banks through Kenswitch in an effort to compete more effectively with larger banks.
Arun Mathur, chief executive of Investment and Mortgages (I&M) Bank and a director of Kenswitch, said that 25 percent of Kenswitch members are currently connected, with another 25 percent undergoing certification. The other 50 percent should be connected by the end of the year, he told the Financial Standard.
The system was created in 2001 in conjunction with the Central Bank of Kenya.
Other Kenswitch directors are Isaac Awuondo, chief executive of Commercial Bank of Africa, and Dihendra Rana, Transnational Bank managing director. Other directors are drawn from Fintech, the technology partner, and its parent company, Loita Holdings Corporation.
Kenswitch was initially faced with numerous challenges during the implementation stage, including communications, daily settlement procedures and integration into the different back office banking applications of the member banks.
"With the switch fully operational, the challenge is to ensure that the entire service to the end user, the banks' customer, is reliable and efficient," Mathur said.
