CEO Peter Ndegwa announced the launch of M-PESA GlobalPay powered by Visa Virtual Cards for international online payments at the unveiling of Safaricom’s FY 2022 results (ended March 30). The card should arrive by the end of June 2022.
M-pesa has millions of users in the country, which means that many individuals use the product for a variety of purposes, including sending and receiving cash, accessing overdrafts (Fuliza), loans and savings (KCB M-PESA and M-Shwari), pay bill and other bill payment alternatives, to name a few.
“With support from our regional regulators and partners, we are working together to deliver innovative products in a new year such as Visa Virtual Card by M-PESA GlobalPay to support international online payments,” CEO Peter Ndegwa says
M-PESA, which marked its 15th anniversary this year, hit the 30 million active customer mark in Kenya. A significant sign of M-PESA’s progress was the 63.4% growth of Lipa na M-PESA merchants to just below 500,000. M-PESA now has over 3.2 million businesses accepting payments under its portfolio, while the M-PESA business app has about 100,000 active businesses.
Virtual Visa cards are incredibly useful in this connected age. For instance, many video streaming platforms require you to pay for your subscription using MasterCard or Visa card. This effectively eliminates the millions of Kenyans whose primary mode of transaction is M-PESA.
Kenyans are a bit afraid about using their bank-issued credit cards for online services as these have been prone to fraud.