Equity Bank and Kenya Airways (KQ) have entered into a partnership that will allow travelers pay for their KQ air tickets using the Equitel mobile money platform.
The move comes after Equitel recorded a 6,470 per cent growth in loan disbursements since its launch in July 2016.According to Equity Group Holdings CEO Dr. James Mwangi,the platform has processed loans worth Ksh.20.8 billion as at the end of June 30 3016, a 6,470 per cent increase from Ksh.0.3 billion recorded when the platform was launched in July 2015. In addition, Equitel now processes 82 per cent of the banks loans and the platform is expected to continue reducing the bank’s costs.
KQ Air tickets
Kenya Airways travelers and Equitel users now have a safe, secure and convenient payment channel through Paybill Number 777887. Under the partnership Equitel users will be able to; buy tickets for any of Kenya Airways’s 54 destinations using their Equitel lines, buy tickets without any additional charges such as mobile payment transaction fees and travellers will also have the option of paying for their air tickets at any of the bank’s 174 branches.
On the flip side, in 2015 Equitel increased the fees it charges to transfer money from Equity Bank to M-Pesa, denying customers the cheaper services the bank promised. The platform used to charge Sh33 per transaction below Sh1,500. However,the CEO commented that “all Equity charges on mobile money remain Sh27, the addition is a fine by Safaricom. They have doubled their minimum charge to Sh66.”
