Bank of Africa launches investment groups mobile app

Bank of Africa (BoA) Kenya has launched a mobile banking platform where investment groups will carry out transactions on their phones, underlying the growing importance of mobile money in the economy.

The lender has partnered with Safaricom and seeks to tap into the telco’s wide mobile subscribers for expansion.

The product dubbed M-Chama will see business groups make transactions on their mobile phones without showing up at banking facility, enabling convenience.

“We are determined to deploy innovation to improve the experience of our members,” the managing director Kwame Ahadzi said on Wednesday during the launch in Nairobi.

Most banks in the country including KCB, Equity Bank, Co-operative Bank and Barclays Bank have turned focus on mobile banking which has proved to be popular with customers due to its convenience.

Mr Ahadzi said that each member’s deposit in a joint investment account will reflect on phones of other members via instant SMS alerts, effectively solving the accountability puzzle.

In addition, members will have the privilege of accessing credit facility from their respective investment groups using their phones on the M-Pesa platform.

The bank said its renewed interest on investment group segment is as a result of growing culture among Kenyans to use the model as vehicle for investment thereby presenting lucrative opportunities.

M-Chama is an expansion of the bank’s B-Mobile which was launched earlier and allows general customers conduct their transactions on their phones.

Bank of Africa has 27 branches in Kenya with a presence in Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi.