Equity bank ups efforts to take on lipa na m-pesa, airtel money

The platform will allow customers to pay for goods and services from kiosks, supermarkets, petrol stations and schools using mobile money transfers - a similar offering to Safaricom’s Lipa na M-Pesa service or Airtel Money.PHOTO: COURTESY

Equity Bank plans to get at least one million businesses onto its EazzyPay service in the next three years.

The platform will allow customers to pay for goods and services from kiosks, supermarkets, petrol stations and schools using mobile money transfers - a similar offering to Safaricom’s Lipa na M-Pesa service or Airtel Money.

Customers will purchase products and services through their Equitel mobile lines, the Eazzy app that can be downloaded onto a smartphone, or from any other mobile money wallet into EazzyPay.

“Merchants will be charged an average of 1 per cent commission of the transaction, but for the customer, it will be totally free,” said Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi during the launch of the lender’s digital strategy early this month.