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- May 11, 2013
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Kenyans moved Sh4.35 trillion through their mobile phones last year, fresh data by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) shows, pointing to the growing significance of the digital marketplace.
The total transactions rose by Sh361.39 billion compared to the amount that was transacted in 2018.
This means that an average Sh11.91 billion was transacted on mobile phones daily between January-December 2019 – some Sh990 million higher than the Sh10.92 billion daily average in 2018. The overall mobile payments in 2018 amounted to Sh3.98 trillion.
Stephen Nduati, former head of the national payments system at the CBK, said mobile money platforms have transitioned from money transfer channels to financial services platforms.
Unlike during the formative years when the mobile money platforms were largely used for person-to-person (P2P) cash transfers, they are now increasingly being used to initiate and cut business deals such as purchase of goods and services as well as processing of instant short-term loans.
“When I was still in regulation, we were working very hard to facilitate mobile money transfers. But now, we have shifted to another level called ‘platformisation’ where mobile money is actually a powerful platform on which a lot of financial transactions is taking place,” Mr Nduati, who now works as an independent consultant on mobile money regulation, said in a recent interview.
“Financial services such as credit are now offered on this platform which is very flexible, thanks to the facilitative regulations. In fact, the rest of the world copy from us, but many have not been able to craft as good regulations as we did.”
Major sectors of the economy such as financial services, retail and wholesale trade, agriculture and health have integrated mobile payment platforms such as M-Pesa into their payment systems, largely because of convenience and speed.
The CBK data indicates the value of mobile money transactions in 2019 was equivalent to 46.15 percent of the estimated size of the Kenyan economy of Sh9.4 trillion – as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) – assuming an expansion of 5.8 percent last year.
The deals via mobile phones further represent 48.82 percent of Kenya’s GDP of Sh8.9 trillion in 2018 (as captured in the Economic Survey 2019) and 56.06 percent of Sh7.75 trillion GDP in 2017.
The total transactions rose by Sh361.39 billion compared to the amount that was transacted in 2018.
This means that an average Sh11.91 billion was transacted on mobile phones daily between January-December 2019 – some Sh990 million higher than the Sh10.92 billion daily average in 2018. The overall mobile payments in 2018 amounted to Sh3.98 trillion.
Stephen Nduati, former head of the national payments system at the CBK, said mobile money platforms have transitioned from money transfer channels to financial services platforms.
Unlike during the formative years when the mobile money platforms were largely used for person-to-person (P2P) cash transfers, they are now increasingly being used to initiate and cut business deals such as purchase of goods and services as well as processing of instant short-term loans.
“When I was still in regulation, we were working very hard to facilitate mobile money transfers. But now, we have shifted to another level called ‘platformisation’ where mobile money is actually a powerful platform on which a lot of financial transactions is taking place,” Mr Nduati, who now works as an independent consultant on mobile money regulation, said in a recent interview.
“Financial services such as credit are now offered on this platform which is very flexible, thanks to the facilitative regulations. In fact, the rest of the world copy from us, but many have not been able to craft as good regulations as we did.”
Major sectors of the economy such as financial services, retail and wholesale trade, agriculture and health have integrated mobile payment platforms such as M-Pesa into their payment systems, largely because of convenience and speed.
The CBK data indicates the value of mobile money transactions in 2019 was equivalent to 46.15 percent of the estimated size of the Kenyan economy of Sh9.4 trillion – as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) – assuming an expansion of 5.8 percent last year.
The deals via mobile phones further represent 48.82 percent of Kenya’s GDP of Sh8.9 trillion in 2018 (as captured in the Economic Survey 2019) and 56.06 percent of Sh7.75 trillion GDP in 2017.
Mobile transactions hit Sh4trn on rising demand
Data from CBK shows that on average, Kenyans were sending Sh12bn to each other every single day of year.