Airtel completes separation of Airtel Money from telecommunications business
Airtel Money has completed its separation from the telecommunications business which was previously under Airtel Networks Kenya Limited (ANKL).
In a statement on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announced that the mobile money business will be transferred to a new entity, Airtel Money Kenya Limited (AMKL), a journey that started in 2019.
"The completion of this restructuring enables AMKL to ring-fence its operations and focus exclusively on its mobile money business. Significantly, this sets the foundation for AMKL to enhance governance over its mobile money business, strengthen its operations, and offer better services to its customers," CBK stated.
CBK licensed AMKL as a Payment Service Provider (PSP) on January 21, 2022, and also granted a transition period to complete the transfer.
Airtel Money now a subsidiary of Airtel Africa
Both AMKL and ANKL are incorporated in Kenya as separate subsidiaries of Airtel Africa Plc). Airtel Africa is headquartered in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, has operations in 14 African countries, and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The separation sets a new precedence in Kenya, with eyes on the two remaining telcos, Safaricom and Telkom, to unlink their mobile money business with the core business, telecommunication.
Safaricom's M-Pesa is the biggest mobile money service provider in the country with over 30 million active monthly subscribers.
CBK says it has engaged PSPs to ensure that the activities under CBK’s supervision are appropriately ring-fenced from other business lines.
"This will allow the PSPs to protect their CBK-regulated activities from shocks emanating from other business activities, strengthen governance, enhance resilience, and focus on improving their services to customers," added CBK.
