Safaricom enlists new partners for Lipa Na M-Pesa

Bob Collymore, Chief Executive Officer, Safaricom

Safaricom has partnered with eight banks in a deal that seeks to reinforce its Lipa Na M-Pesa services. The latest arrangement will see businesses using the service transfer funds from their tills to their bank accounts real time, any day of the week.

The partnership with KCB, Equity Bank, Jamii Bora, Chase Bank, Cooperative Bank, Diamond Trust Bank, UBA and Consolidated Bank, brings the total number of banks which offer instant bank settlement for merchants to 10.

Standard Chartered and NIC Bank started offering the service in July, which assures clients of availability of cash around the clock.

"This is a progressive move in our pursuit to create a Cash Lite financial ecosystem. It not only reduces the inherent risks associated with cash handling, but also ensures merchants always have access to working capital, which will definitely improve efficiency of their businesses," said Bob Collymore, Chief Executive Officer, Safaricom.

The operator said that over the last three years, tremendous progress has been registered in the bank settlement process, making it possible for merchants to access funds within the same day.

"This was, however, subject to the bank's operating hours and working days. These partnerships therefore aims at reducing the time to a minute or less, any day, any time."

Lipa Na M-Pesa merchants can move between Sh50 and Sh50 million to their banks, with no limitation on the number of transactions that they can make within a day.

"One of the objectives we set out to achieve with M-PESA is to grow the cashless and cash lite economy, by providing end-to-end solutions. This partnership is a significant step in this direction," explained Collymore.

The partnerships complement other initiatives introduced by Safricom over the recent months to deepen financial inclusion and expand the M-Pesa services to relevant products and services.