News

Mobile money transforms Kenyan banking market

January 27, 2014

Sixty percent of Kenyans now use their mobile phone for banking transactions and 64 percent of Kenyans send or receive money locally through their mobile phones, according to a study by the Kenya Bankers Association.

Forty-eight percent of bank customers are paying their utility bills through their mobile phones, 16 percent are paying for school fees and 13 percent are buying goods for their homes, the study found.

Although 58 percent of cash is still withdrawn from the ATM lobby, mobile operators transact about one-fifth of all cash withdrawals in Kenya.

Kenyan financial services have been transformed through the interplay between banks, mobile operators and their registered banking agents, the KBA said. The growing uptake of mobile technology in the banking sector has significantly improved access to financial services in Kenya, it noted.

While cost-saving is an important benefit of mobile banking, security and time-saving are considered to be more critical considerations for mobile banking uptake, the KBA study found.

Learn more about mobile bankingand money transfer/P2P.