The mobile banking product launched last month by KCB and Safaricom, dubbed KCB–M-PESA, has hit one million accounts, just a month after it was launched.
The account signed the one millionth customer this week with both firms indicating that the mobile financial product has in excess of Ksh700Million since the launch four weeks ago.
KCB Group CEO, Mr Joshua Oigara, said the product is a path towards the development of a cash-lite economy in East Africa that has enabled the bank and the telco drive their financial inclusion agenda across the region.
“The 1 millionth customer is just a show of how this product is significant to our customers, the fact that one can borrow as low as Ksh50 for bus fare says a lot. It is those little amounts that are making a difference in people’s lives showing how this innovation is driving financial inclusion”, said Mr Oigara.
As at Monday 27th April 2015, the total accounts opened stood at over 1.3 million with an average loan size being Ksh3,000.
The KCB-M-PESA account offers customers a platform to borrow money based on their credit worth history, save money on their mobile phones and later borrow loans that are repayable within a maximum of six months making it the only product of its kind in the market. The account offers loans of a minimum of Ksh50 and as much as Ksh 1 million with interest as low as 2%, this is a product for everyone.
“Mobile banking has given consumers cheaper access to their finances thus reducing the need to travel to our branches. The large number of people who are not in the formal financial system find mobile phones as the only way to access financial services,” he added.
