KCB bets on technology partnership to drive up revenues

NAIROBI: Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Group is relying on its partnerships with technology companies to increase its presence in the digital payments space. Already, KCB has secured a deal with telecommunications firm Safaricom Limited to create a KCB-MPesa account.

“We are exploiting the big data revolution to create new and exciting possibilities in the market place. This new partnership between us and Safaricom is causing stiff competition in the micro-credit market due to its affordability, flexibility and the fact that one does not have to walk into a branch to access credit,” said KCB Group CEO Joshua Oigara in an interview with The Standard.

Customers with KCB-MPesa accounts will be able to access credit through their phones and be charged 2 per cent for loans with a six-month repayment period, 3 per cent for a three-month loan and 4 per cent for those willing to repay their loan amounts within a month. “We expect to obtain more volumes in terms of business transactions, loan book and customer numbers, using this technology platform,” said Oigara.

PAYMENT CARDS

KCB is eyeing its partnership with Safaricom as a catalyst for growth in 2015, riding on the firm’s dominance in the mobile telephony sector and its own strength in the credit market.

The loan amount will be determined by amount of savings, M-Pesa balances, savings on both Safaricom and KCB platforms and usage of their suite of products.

“We are also looking at issuing more payment cards, participating in e-Government as well as providing solutions to e-Transport,” said Oigara.

The lender is looking at opportunities that will arise out of the Government’s automation of revenue collection and digitisation of payments in the public sector. Available figures indicate that KCB has moved Sh125 billion in M-Pesa transactions.

Related Topics

KCB KCB-MPesa