The Central Bank of Kenya has reintroduced mobile money to bank transfer charges.
“The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announces the reintroduction of charges for transactions between mobile money wallets and bank accounts, which were waived on March 16, 2020. as part of the emergency measures to facilitate use of mobile money in the context of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. The new charges are significantly lower than those that applied before and will apply after January 1, 2023,” CBK’s statement said in part.
Kenyans have become used to the no-fee transfer and many were using the Mobile money to bank, then bank to mobile money to send money to their friends, family, to escape charges.
The bank further broke down the statistics on the use of mobile money.
“The number of Kenyans actively using mobile moncy increased by over 6.2 million. The monthly volume and value of F2P transactions increased from 162 million transactions worth Sh234 billion to Sh440 million transactions worth Ksh.399 billion, an increase of 171 per cent and 71 per cent. respectively,” CBK wrote
The reintroduction, CBK argues will help build a sustainable financial ecosystem.
“This outcome confirms that the mitigation measures were timely and effective, and resulted in significant benefits across the financial system. The resumption of revised charges is aimed at building on these gains to facilitate a transition towards sustainable growth of the mobile money ecosystem, and ensuring affordability of payment services for Kenyans,” CBK said.
CBK says the reintroduction has come by after consultations with banks and payment service providers.
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