Mobile money bank transfer fees, which were temporarily eliminated in 2020, have been reinstated by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
CBK announced the changes in a statement released on Tuesday, December 6. The statement said that the modifications were implemented after discussions between the financial institution and the individual banks.
The new tariffs, effective as of January 1, 2023, are said to be cheaper than before, however, and this is attributed to CBK.
The average maximum fees for sending money from a mobile money wallet to a bank account will be cut by up to 61%, and the reverse will be true for receiving money from a mobile money wallet into a bank account.
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 per cent,” read the statement in part.
Charges made by banks for bank-to-mobile money transactions would be decreased by 45 percent, as reported by CBK.
Banks and PSPs will announce new fees for bank-to-wallet and wallet-to-bank transfers beginning on January 1, 2023.
The Central Bank of Kenya restated its intention to “support the creation of a payments ecosystem that works for and with Kenyans.”
A number of economic initiatives, including the elimination of transaction fees, were implemented in the early stages of the pandemic.
CBK emphasized the move’s appropriateness, saying that activity levels had been rising at the time.
Over 6.2 million more Kenyans are now regular users of mobile money.
With a 171 percent and 71 percent growth in monthly volume and value, respectively, CBK said that P2P transactions went from 162 million transactions worth Ksh234 billion to 440 million transactions worth Ksh399 billion.
