Kenswitch Ltd a platform shared by over 20 commercial banks in Kenya facilitating the delivery of electronic banking services 24/7 has launched a system that will allow users transfer cash between banks registered on its network.
The development of the system was based on agency banking model which will allow customers make real time deposits into accounts, and will allow transfer of funds as little as sh50 to a maximum of sh 1 million from one bank account to another or top up of prepaid credit cards through the mobile phone.
“We are waging war against cash and cheques. We want to get rid of paper from the economy and are giving customers a choice whether to look at existing players, or use a cost effective platform that will guarantee transfer of funds between four and six seconds,” said Kenswitch managing director, George Wainaina.
Transfer tariff range from as low as sh5 to as much as sh200 depending on the amount transferred in a case where the customer is transferring between sh1,000 and 9,999 will pay sh20 while one seeking to transact more than 500,000 will pay sh200 the maximum limit.
In case the financial institution is not available at the time of transfer, the funds will be reversed. The service is in place for banks seeking easier channels for loan repayments as well as counties in automation of their revenue collection. This also targets the business sector because many small and medium enterprises continue to rely on banking instruments like cheques and electronic funds transfers.
The Domestic Interbank Transfer Service (Dits) is accessible through the existing infrastructure of registered banks and deposit-taking institutions like ATMs, online banking platforms, mobile banking applications and agent banking.