[Photo: CIO Africa]
Safaricom says there is a possibility, that M-Pesa might split from its parent company Safaricom PLC, following a proposal by the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill sponsored by Gem MP Elisha Odhiambo
Safaricom says if the proposal passes, M-PESA will have a separate license and be regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya instead of the Communications Authority.
Under CBK, M-PESA will deepen its financial lending by expanding into offering high-value instruments such as car loans.
“If we split M-PESA from Safaricom and it falls under the regulation of the CBK, we could apply to the regulator to provide various services not directly related to telecommunications services. It could be financial services. For instance, we could lend you money to buy a car – something we don’t do today. In short, this presents an opportunity to provide a wide range of services,” said Michael Joseph, Safaricom PLC’s Chairman.
M-Pesa, which was established in 2007 by Safaricom and Vodafone, now has over 51 million customers, 465,000 businesses, 600,000 agents, and 42,000 developers across Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, DR Congo, Lesotho, Ghana, and Egypt.
The service processes more than 61 million transactions a day, making it Africa’s largest mobile money platform.
Currently, M-PESA customers can transact 300,000 shillings a day.
The maximum per transaction is 150,000 shillings.
The same goes for the Pochi La Biashara, which is a product for small businesses under M-Pesa.
A newsmaker, reporter and anchor at Pearl Radio, Ndalilah Sharon is witty and savvy.
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