The COVID-19 pandemic is a nuisance that has brought some parts of the world to a standstill. Kenya has since registered a few cases, so by design, the country is deploying measures to combat the menace before it escalates. So far, schools have been closed and some organizations are making their employees work from home.
Carriers such as Safaricom have so far lifted fees for M-PESA transactions under KES 1000. The same thing has been reported for Airtel Money – and even banks have been looped in the development based on a directive from the Central Bank of Kenya. All these measures are meant to manage to fight the virus through all means possible.
At the same time, Equity Bank says it has received a directive from the CBK to reduce the transmission of Coronavirus by decreasing the handling of banknotes. The advisory is essentially aiming to push for cashless transactions – and the lender is said to have worked out measures to respond to the directive.
Tomorrow (Thursday 19), the bank will conduct an urgent board meeting to deliberate and approve the Executive Management proposal and recommendations. The same meeting is set to discuss bank charges for mobile money transactions.
“We believe that during these challenging times, it is a season to seek collaboration and cooperation to overcome the adverse economic effects of coronavirus crisis. We shall stand with our customers to navigate the challenges and we will go beyond the Central Bank’s advisory in supporting our members, community, and country,” says Dr. James Mwangi, CEO and General MD Equity Group.
The lender has since partnered with Equity Afia medical teams to echo health education and preventive measures for its workers and customers.
