Safaricom has three primary loan products; Fuliza, which it co-owns with NCBA and KCB, KCB M-PESA, and M-Shwari that it also runs alongside NCBA.
Fuliza is barely two years old, but it is the most popular of the three. It is an overdraft facility, and as much as the operator does not call it a loan product, its financial results are listed under the ‘lending’ segment on this year’s H1 FY22 publication.
Looking at the data, it is evident that Fuliza has overtaken others, probably due to its ease of use. It continues to be a popular product, even when its terms and conditions are becoming more stringent.
READ MORE: NCBA AND KCB TO USE RESPECTIVE ACCOUNTS, INCLUDING MSHWARI AND KCB M-PESA TO CLEAR FULIZA OWED
Now, here is how Fuliza performed for the six months ended on September 30, 2021:
Safaricom disbursed KES 242.6 billion in Fuliza, which is a 62.4% jump YoY.
The value of repayment stood at KES 240.2 billion, which is quite impressive because the product is self-regularized once a customer receives funds in their M-PESA wallets, effectively making it impossible to not pay the funds in such cases.
The repayment versus disbursement rate stood at 99.0 percent.
Now, the average Fuliza taken by customers is KES 375, which is lower than the KES 478 from a year ago.
The facility has 1.7 million daily users.
Safaricom made KES 2.8 billion over the period under review.
KBC M-PESA disbursed KES 22.9 billion over the same period. Customers managed to repay KES 22.6 billion.
The average loan disbursed by the product is KES 9070.
The product has 3.1 million one-month active users.
Safaricom made KES 300 million in revenue from KCB M-PESA.
M-Shwari, on the other hand, disbursed KES 43.4 billion, but only KES 27.6 was repaid during the review period.
Therefore, the repayment versus disbursal rate is low at 63.5 percent.
With 4 million one-month active users, M-Shwari made KES 900 million for the company.
Lastly, it should be remembered that Fuliza’s new regulations state that a customer who does not furnish the overdraft 30 days after taking it will see the carrier, KCB and NCBA access funds from other of their accounts, be it their KCB or NCBA bank accounts, or even M-Shwari, to clear the loan.
