CBK reinstates charges for banks' in-house mobile money transactions
The Central Bank of Kenya says it has credited Treasury’s account with Sh5 billion.
What you need to know:
- Central Bank of Kenya said concerns had grown on the viability of the services.
- CBK further stated that it would review the charges against pricing principles announced December last year.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has reinstated charges for mobile banking transactions involving bank-specific mobile wallets in a move that will affect thousands of Kenyans who have been using the platform to make various transactions.
The resumption of charges on all transactions above Sh100 will mostly affect Savings and Credit Societies (Saccos) customers who mostly use their in-house money wallets to withdraw, deposit, send and perform other transactions.
“CBK has noted that the Sacco sector is deeply integrated to these wallets and accounts for a significant share of their transactions. Through them, banks provide Saccos with an important bridge to the domestic and cross-border payment systems,” the regulator said on Thursday.
CBK said concerns had grown on the viability of the services, noting that they were likely to be affected by the current price regime due to inability to cover underlying costs.
“This is a significant risk for Saccos and their extensive membership due to the lack of other alternatives to connect to the mobile money ecosystem. The resumption of charges will provide space to increase the connection options for Saccos,” CBK stated.
It further stated that it would review the charges against pricing principles announced December last year, including how customer-centric, transparent, fair and affordable they are among others.
“These principles were introduced on the expiry of the emergency measures waiving charges for low value mobile money person to person transactions below Sh1,000. Other measures on waiver of charges between mobile money wallets and bank accounts remained in force,” CBK stated.
