In March 2015, 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 4-6% per month depending on the repayment period. Customers can also save using the account with two options of a fixed deposit account and a savings account available.
The Bank today released its Half Year 2016 financial results, which highlighted the continued growth of its digital channels including KCB M-Pesa account. The bank’s CEO also spoke of the recent refresh of the bank’s mobile application with the intent of enhancing security and adding more features as one of the measures the bank is taking to accelerate its digital footprint.
Of the Bank’s total transactions, 78% were handled through the non-branch channels during the period under review, compared to 69% last year. The value of the loans on the other hand grew to Kshs. 11.3 Billion from Kshs. 2.1 Billion last year. The number of loans issued rose to 6.1 Million from 800,000 loans issued half on half while depositors increased to 6.5 Million from 2.1 Million in the same period last year. In total, mobile channels performed 5.6 Million transactions a month with total transactions for the quarter hitting 31 Million.
KCB Bank saw its half year pretax profits rise 14% to Kshs. 15.1 billion from KShs. 13.2 Billion. Going forward, the bank is riding on adoption of technology, supporting small and medium enterprises and tapping into strategic partnerships for new business such as Bancassurance and KCB Capital for growth.
Am still hesitant to use the KCB option. Not sure if it has better rates than M-Shwari (http://www.politicskenya.net/)