NCBA Bank has become the first Kenyan bank to let its customers pay electricity bills and buy Kenya Power prepaid tokens directly from their bank accounts using the utility’s *977# USSD service.
Customers can access the service by dialing *977#, following the prompts and selecting NCBA as the payment option, which removes the need to first move money to a mobile wallet.
The bank says the integration meets rising demand for faster, more intuitive ways to handle routine household and business payments.
Dennis Njau, group director for retail banking at NCBA Group, said “At NCBA, our focus is on making banking work around our customers’ lives. This integration with Kenya Power’s *977# platform is a practical example of that commitment, delivering a simpler way for customers to manage an essential everyday expense.”
The launch follows a week-old development in which South Africa’s Nedbank acquired a 66 per cent stake in NCBA, making the lender a subsidiary.
Although most Kenyans currently purchase electricity tokens through M-Pesa, NCBA’s new offering aims to keep such everyday transactions within the bank’s ecosystem.
