The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK)has announced the reinstatement of fees for transfers between mobile money wallets and bank accounts that were previously waived as part of Covid-19 emergency measures in March 2020.
The new charges will be significantly lower than those that applied before and will apply after January 1, 2023.
“While COVID-19 adversely impacted people’s livelihoods and businesses, mitigation measures enabled the payments ecosystem to protect vulnerable Kenyans, support businesses, and strengthen economic resilience. As a result, the payments ecosystem expanded significantly. “
“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, facilitating a transition towards sustainable growth of the mobile money ecosystem, and ensuring affordability of payment services for Kenyans.” The press release read in part.
The number of Kenyans actively using mobile money increased by over 6.2 million while the monthly volume and value of P2P transactions increased from 162 million transactions worth Ksh.234 billion to 440 million transactions worth Ksh.399 billion, an increase of 171 percent and 71 percent, respectively.
The new revised charges as consulted with the central bank of Kenya, banks, and PSPs have also been reduced by the central bank.
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The revised maximum charges for transfers from bank accounts to mobile money wallets will be reduced by on average up to 61 percent, and mobile money wallets to bank accounts by on average up to 47 percent.
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Tariffs for pay bills that are used to collect and disburse funds by businesses, companies, and institutions such as schools, utilities, etc, will be reduced by on average 50 percent
The charges levied by banks for bank-to-mobile money transactions will be reduced by an average of 45 percent.
The revised charges for bank-to-wallet and wallet-to-bank transactions will be announced by respective PSPs and banks and will be effective from January 1, 2023.
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