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Kenya's KCB to spend $9M on mobile payment platform

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Kenya's KCB to spend $9M on mobile payment platform

KCB Group Plc plans to spend $9 million to create its own mobile payment platform in 2018 to boost the number of mobile transactions it can handle, Reuters reported March 8, citing CEO Joshua Oigara.

The Kenyan lender said 57% of its transactions in 2017 were made via mobile phones, up from 53% a year earlier. Oigara said the bank aims to handle 100 mobile transactions per second from the current 30 to 35.

KCB already offers mobile banking services and is using telecoms company Safaricom's mobile money platform M-Pesa, Reuters said.

Separately, KCB CFO Lawrence Kimathi said the banking group remains optimistic that Kenya's rate cap law will be reviewed by the end of the year, Bloomberg News reported March 8.

Kimathi said the group wants the cap to be raised from the current limit of 400 basis points above official rates, an easier approach than pushing for a repeal of the law.

The bank reported full-year 2017 group profit after tax, exceptional items and minority interest of 19.71 billion Kenyan shillings, compared to 19.72 billion shillings in 2016.

As of March 8, US$1 was equivalent to 101.15 Kenyan shillings.