At the start of 2023, Kenyan banks re-introduced bank-to-mobile money charges, which had been dropped by the CBK at the start of the pandemic to cushion Kenyans from economic constraints. Different banks announced their tariffs, including Equity, and upon looking at them, we realized they were mostly the same, with no clear winner in terms of value.
Loop, the neobank by NCBA, was not charging people at that time too, but after its massive overhaul and revamp, it introduced bank to mobile money fees.
For now, only I&M Bank doesn’t charge customers for the same. This development was announced yesterday, and it is a welcome move that we hope other lenders will follow.
In the meantime, these are the charges for sending money from Equity Bank to M-PESA and Airtel Money:
| From (KES) | To (KES) | M-PESA (KES) | Airtel Money (KES) |
| 1 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
| 101 | 500 | 10 | 11 |
| 501 | 1000 | 12 | 13 |
| 1001 | 1500 | 14 | 20 |
| 1501 | 2500 | 23 | 25 |
| 2501 | 3500 | 33 | 35 |
| 3501 | 5000 | 43 | 45 |
| 5001 | 7500 | 55 | 55 |
| 7501 | 20000 | 65 | 65 |
| 20001 | 150,000 | 67 | 65 |
