Safaricom has announced its entrance into investments in unit trust by launching a new product called Mali.
With Mali, customers will be able to earn daily interest with as little as Kshs. 100.
A Mali Account as described by Safaricom is a unit trust account held by a customer in the fund and which is opened and operated by Genghis in accordance with the Incorporation Documents and the set terms and conditions.
Customers can access the new product by dialing *230# and selecting Mali from the options that appear from the options provided.
The other best alternative, in this case, is to access the product from the M-Pesa app under the services tab.
Safaricom just recently received regulatory approval for Mali and Safaricom has partnered with Genghis Capital Limited to offer the service.
The maximum amount a customer will be able to invest is Ksh. 300,000 per day.
Mali promises to offer a 10% interest annually in a bid to attract more investors.
The telco also notes that customers will not be charged any transactional fees while transacting.
One major advantage of the service is that customers can get instant withdrawals of either partial or all funds which are credited to their Mpesa wallet.
In scenarios where the amount surpasses the set M-PESA limits, the payment will roll over to the next days until the full amount is settled.
Mali however has fees and charges in certain areas. These include:
- The Fund Manager’s fees (Genghis fees) – The Fund manager will charge 2.0% per annum.
- A withholding fee where the government will charge the customer a 15% withholding tax on the investment fund and not on the interest earned from the investment.
- A trustee’s fee where KCB Bank will charge you as the customer a 0.20% fee per annum.
- A custodial fee where will be charged at 0.15% per annum and is subject to a minimum of around Kshs. 10,000 per month
The investment product is set to be available to registered users who have had an active M-PESA wallet for more than 3 months.
In cases where a customer has multiple M-PESA registered numbers, these will be treated as separate accounts.
Additionally, customers who have had to replace their lines in the last three days will not be eligible for the service.
Lastly, customers need to be over 18 years of age.
You can be able to read more about the terms and conditions of Mali from Safaricom’s main website here.
