Kenya’s M-Shwari, a mobile lending and saving solution owned by Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) and running on Safaricom will now be available to smartphone users through MySafaricom App.
The firm, which today celebrated its 5th anniversary with over 21 million customers in Kenya also introduced smart pricing for loans according to their payments behavior.
M-Shwari will be introducing segmented pricing and enhancement to the customer experience. Therefore customers who have exhibited good savings and loan repayment behaviour will enjoy improved pricing from next week.
The firm shall also be introducing a rebate on the M-Shwari facility fee to all M-Shwari customers that repay their loans within 10 days. From January M-Shwari shall also be accessible from the MySafaricom App.
“These product enhancements are an illustration of investment in research, our deeper understanding of customer behaviour and benefits of leveraging technology to effectively address customer needs. Through these, we are able to make an even bigger contribution in deepening financial inclusion in Kenya,” said Isaac Awuondo, Group Managing Director, CBA.
Launched on 27th November 2012, as a mobile savings and loans solution for M-Pesa customers, M-Shwari has now been rolled out to 4 other African markets, embraced by over 31 million customers has seen more than Kes. 230 billion disbursed in loans through its platform. The average loan per customer is an average of Kes. 3,300 per customer. Savings by customers currently stand at more than Kes. 12.6 billion.
With the launch of an M-Swari version in the MySafaricom App which has over 1.3 million downloads, CBA and Safaricom expect to sign up even more users across the region.
According to Sylvia Mulinge, Safaricom’s Director for Consumer Business, “This partnership is one of the best illustrations of what two like-minded organisations can do, if they keep their focus on improving the lives of their customers. We commit to continue playing our part in ensuring that Kenya continues to be one of the best case studies for financial inclusion globally.”
