In March, KCB and Telco Safaricom partnered to launch the KCB M-pesa account, a facility aimed at increasing financial inclusion through savings as well as issuing loans through Safaricom’s mobile money service M-pesa. The KCB-Mpesa account allows customers to get loans using their mobile phones with repayment periods ranging from one month to six months at interest rates from as low as 2 per cent per month. Customers can also save using the account with two options of a fixed deposit account and a target savings account available. In July, when announcing their half-year results, KCB said the service was now averaging Kshs. 130 million weekly in loans.
The Bank today held a press briefing where it announced Q3 results for the period ending September 30th 2015. The results highlighted the continued growth of its mobile banking platform which include KCB Mobi and KCB M-Pesa account. In the quarter, both platforms had been able to acquire nearly 6 million customers with 4.2 million customers on the KCB M-pesa account while the KCB Mobi account had 1.5 million customers. The KCB M-Pesa platform had processed loans worth Kshs. 6 Billion with Kshs. 4.2 Billion in loans disbursed to borrowers. The KCB Mobi platform has processed Kshs. 3 Billion in loans with Kshs. 1.7 Billion issued to various customers.
One interesting number to note is the range of the highest loan amounts borrowed by customers which is between Kshs. 1,000-20,000. 24% of customers on KCB M-Pesa platform borrow between Kshs. 5,000 and 10,000, 23.9% borrow between Kshs. 10,000 with 17.4% borrowing between Kshs. 2,500 and 5,000. A total of 1.8 million loans have taken place through the platform. Combining both the KCB Mobi and KCB M-Pesa platforms, Kshs. 9 Billion in loans have been processed with Kshs. 6 Billion issued to customers as of September 30th. KCB registered a pre-tax profit of Kshs. 19 Billion over this period.
