Mobile wallet hits Sh1.2tr, spurs growth
Kenyans deposited a whopping Sh1.2 trillion through their mobile money wallets between September 2020 and March 2021, indicating the increasing importance of the technology in Kenya’s financial sector.
Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) 3rd Quarter report for January-March 2021 says this was a 10.2 per cent quarterly variation, with the total transaction value rising by Sh100 billion posted in September 2020.
The total value of deposits realised a 2 per cent growth in the the number of active mobile money subscriptions to 33.1 million, which also saw active mobile money agents grow from 257,907 to 264,390.
As part of the response to contain the spread of the virus, both the government and the private sector encouraged the use of digital payments, and discouraged the use of cash.
Specific measures related to the zero-rating of both Mpesa transfers below Sh1,000 and all PesaLink transactions for a period of 90 days.
Central Bank of Kenya
Transfers from M-pesa to bank accounts, and from bank accounts to M-pesa were zero-rated, while the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) approved an increase of daily Mpesa transaction limits from Sh70,000 to Sh150,000 to support small and micro business enterprises (SMEs).
In addition, the value of transactions went up to Sh300,000 from the previous limit of Sh140,000 and held up to Sh300,000 in their M-pesa wallets in amove that increased digital transactions.
During the review period, the value of consumer to business (C2B) transactions rose by 10.2 per cent to Sh1.1 trillion from Sh983.8 billion, while business to consumer (B2C) transactions increased by 2.1 per cent to Sh664.7 billion from Sh648.8 billion. Business to Business (B2B) transactions which increased by 4.1 per cent to Sh1.8 trillion from Sh1.7 trillion.
However, CA said the government to citizens (G2C) transaction dropped by 53 per cent, in what the authority said was a “reduction in disbursals to vulnerable citizens as the management of the Covid-19 pandemic takes shape.”
The report also states that citizen to government (C2G) transfers, and value of peer to peer (P2P) transfers registered declines of 5.9 per cent and 7.9 per cent from Sh1 trillion to Sh970 billion, and Sh13.2 trillion to Sh12.1 trillion respectively during the quarter under review.
“This is attributed to the end of the festive season during which relatives and friends tend to send each other money as a form of gift or for purposes of organizing celebrations,” the report said.
Market leader
Safaricom maintained a 64.4 per cent market leadership as of March 2021, with 38.7 million subscribers, followed by Airtel at 16.4 million with Telkom coming in third with 3.8 million subscribers, from a total of 62 million active subscribers representing a 0.9 per cent increase from last quarter, bringing up mobile (SIM) penetration stood at 130.3 per cent up from 129.1 per cent recorded in quarter two.
According to CA, the number of SIM additions declined to 548,738 from 1,565,966 net additions recorded during the preceding quarter.
“The decline is as a result of resumption of physical learning schools leading to an increased number of inactive SIM Cards,” CA said.
The authority said the total number of internet/data subscriptions stood at 43.7 million at the end of the third quarter of the financial year 2020/21, a decline of 1.5 per cent from 44.4 million subscriptions recorded during the second quarter following the resumption of physical learning in schools from the beginning of the year.
