Backed by a war-chest of at least 2.8 million customers—a third of the banked population—Equity Bank on Thursday made a commitment to double the number of Kenyans with access to mobile financial services, a month after it launched its mobile banking product.
In partnership with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the bank’s chief executive officer, Dr James Mwangi, said mobile banking was a crucial aspect in the banking, especially in reaching out to under banked customers.
According to the bank, the initiative to double the spread of mobile banking is part of the M-Banking Call to Action Commitment made at the Clinton Global Initiative’s 2008 Annual.
Equity’s product dubbed “Benki Yangu Mkononi” service hopes to enable the bank’s customers to use their mobile phones to perform transactions without the presence of a fixed line point of sale terminal. It is the first such service in Kenya and targets the bank’s 2.7 million account holders.
While speaking on ‘Strengthening Livelihoods through Financial Services to the poor,’ Dr Mwangi said that the bank had doubled the number of savings clients since the last CGI Meeting last year from 1.4 million to 2.8 million.
‘The bank’s growth has been as a result of being innovative to develop products and especially savings products which meet the needs of the low-income people”
Equity Bank, the latest entrant in this market segment, is competing with the likes of CfC Stanbic, NIC Bank, Co-operative Bank of Kenya and National Bank of Kenya in riding on the mobile phone revolution in the country.
“The brick and mortar bank branch system can only go so far. With cell phone service and a local shop handling the cash, mobile banking can reach every village in the developing world,” said Elizabeth Littlefield CGAP CEO.
“Technology can enable us to reach millions of poor people who, until now, have been left out of the formal financial system,” she added.
This year’s event aims at lobbying institutional investors, microfinance institutions, network providers and technology companies and policymakers to boost their commitment in promoting mobile financial services.
Statistics compiled by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) indicate that mobile phone subscribers in the country stood at 12.7 million in June this year, up from just 20,000 in 1999.
With statistics estimating that nine out of 10 people in most developing countries having limited or no access to a bank account or basic financial services, M-banking products like Safaricom’s M-Pesa are providing opportunities to tap into the market and provide affordable access to financial services to vast numbers of poor people.
Business Daily Africa
