Launched in March by KCB in partnership with Safaricom, the KCB M-PESA Account has hit over 1 million customers, in just four weeks after it was launched to the public.
The service which allows customers to access loans based on their credit worth history while also enabling them to save on free deposit accounts and earn interest is a competition to CBA’s M-SHWARI and a number of other services such as Mkopo Rahisi.
“We have just started and we will deepen this. This partnership is built on long-term thinking. These are two businesses which have a similar long term vision of transforming lives in every market in which they have footprints,” said KCB Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Joshua Oigara
“The 1 millionth customer is just a show of how this product is significant to our customers, the fact that one can borrow instantly from their phones for amounts ranging from Kshs.100/= for bus fare, KShs. 50/= to purchase airtime says a lot about the people accessing this credit facility at all levels of our society from a mama mboga. It is those little amounts that are making a difference in people’s lives showing how this innovation is driving financial inclusion”, said Oigara.
KCB-M-PESA account holders are required to dial the USSD code *844# to see how much they can borrow and follow the prompts to secure the loan which will be sent to their KCB M-PESA accounts instantly. The loan amount is determined by the amount of savings that the customer has made, M-PESA balance, and their savings on both Safaricom and KCB platforms and usage of their suite of products.
KCB Bank Group is East Africa’s largest commercial Bank that was established in 1896 in Kenya. Over the years, the Bank has grown and spread its wings into Tanzania, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi completing the East African circuit in the year 2012. Today KCB Bank Group has the largest branch network in the Region of over 250 branches, 962 ATMs and 12,000 agents offering banking services on a 24/7 basis in East Africa.