The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has reintroduced transactional cost from cash transfers between mobile phone wallets and bank accounts.
The charges, which had been waived on March 16, 2020, will take effect beginning January 1, 2023, following discussions, and lobbying between the CBK, banks and payment service providers with the latter two groups pushing for the fees return.
The maximum charges for transfers from bank accounts to mobile money wallets will however be revised, reducing them by an average of 61 per cent while the inverse (mobile wallets to bank accounts) charges will fall by an average of 47 per cent.
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Tariffs for paybills used to collect and disburse funds by businesses, companies, and institutions such as schools and utilities will meanwhile be reduced by an average of 50 per cent.
“The revised charges for bank-to-wallet and wallet-to-bank transactions will be announced by respective payment service providers (PSPs) and banks and will be effective from January 1, 2023,” the CBK stated.
Number of person-to-person transactions increased from 162 million transactions worth Ksh.234 billion to 440 million transactions valued at Ksh.399 billion while number of Kenyans using mobile money increased by over 6.2 million.
“This outcome confirms that the mitigation measures were timely and effective, and resulted in significant benefits across the financial system. The resumption of revised charges is aimed at building on these gains, facilitate a transition towards sustainable growth of the mobile money ecosystem, and ensuring affordability of payment services for Kenyans,” added the CBK.