Campaigns by banks on credit and debit card use are bearing fruit, with cashless transactions going up 77.94 per cent. Photo/FILE
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Data by CBK shows that consumers shopped for goods worth Sh77.82 billion through point-of-sale (POS) machines between January and September this year, while the number of debit cards issued rose to 8.6 million.
The number of POS machines, according to the CBK data, stood at 17,702 as at the end of September compared to 16,209 at the end of September 2011.
The number of debit, automated teller machine and credit cards has been on an upward trend over the past four years in tandem with the increasing number of consumers who have been opening deposit accounts countrywide.
The increased usage of debit and credit cards at shopping points increased cashless transactions by 77.94 per cent in the first nine months of the year.
Data by the Central Bank of Kenya shows that consumers shopped for goods worth Sh77.82 billion through point-of-sale (POS) machines between January and September this year, while the number of debit cards issued rose to 8.6 million.
Over the same period last year, a total of Sh43.73 billion was transacted when the number of debit cards issued stood at 7.14 million.
Habil Olaka, the chief executive officer of Kenya Bankers Association said the increase can be attributed to the acceptance of the use of plastic money as a mode of payment, rather than the long-time view of it as a status symbol.
“This has been helped greatly by the uptake of technology by the large retail supermarket chains and retailers,” said Mr Olaka, who added that the trend was expected to continue as more integration of payment systems takes place in the economy.
The number of POS machines, according to the CBK data, stood at 17,702 as at the end of September compared to 16,209 at the end of September 2011.
The number of debit, automated teller machine and credit cards has been on an upward trend over the past four years in tandem with the increasing number of consumers who have been opening deposit accounts countrywide.
These cards are now being used not only for cash withdraws at automated teller machines but also at the swipe machines by an increasing number of consumers. The number of ATM machines stood at 2,311 at the end of September.
Wilfred Michoma, the KCB Group head of credit cards said that the entry of Equity, I&M and Cooperative banks into the processing of payments business has helped increase the number of POS machines particularly in areas which did not originally have these machines.
He said that over the last two years most POS terminals have turned to using mobile lines for communication as opposed to the landline technology used previously and as such the delays that customers used to experience when a line is down have been addressed.
“Kenyans are increasingly gaining confidence to use cards at POS due to the improvement of communication links for the POS terminals,” said Mr Michoma adding that campaigns by banks on card usage are now also bearing fruit.
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