Kenswitch unveils cross border ATM integration

Kenya: The national shared payments system, Kenswitch, has integrated its Automated Teller Machine (ATM) system with three East African switches namely Umoja Switch (Tanzania), Interswitch (Uganda) and R-Switch (Rwanda).

The integration will facilitate operability within the East African Region and will see Kenswitch facilitate customers of the Association of Savings Banks of East Africa (ASBEA) members – Kenya Post Office Savings Bank, Post Bank Uganda Ltd and Tanzania Postal Bank – and customers to share the ATM infrastructure across the region.

Speaking during the launch of the integration, Kenswitch Managing Director George Wainaina said the integration comes at a time when the shared payments industry is being driven by technological innovations and demand from customers for alternative delivery channels that promote accessibility of banking services and infrastructure.

He said dynamism in the financial sector has created an environment for innovation, technological advancement and collaborations.

“This environment has gone a long way to ease the financial processes for both the institutions and end users as well as promoting financial inclusion of areas that are hard to reach through conventional banking,” said Mr Wainaina.

He noted that Kenswitch has been focused on financial inclusion and has been engaged with financial institutions to integrate existing payments infrastructure. 

“Our objective in tandem with integration of payments infrastructure is financial deepening where our energies are geared to providing more value to customers and improving efficiency of payment systems in East Africa and beyond,” Wainaina said.