Ecobank Kenya is embroiled in an ownership battle for a savings platform that the lender rolled out in March last year to help millions of informal workers save.
Court documents show that Jipay Payment Solutions Limited and Ashanti Pension Insurance have sued the lender claiming ownership of the product dubbed ‘Save As You Spend’.
The two start-ups accused the lender of rolling out the platform without their consent, seven months after Ecobank Kenya first held talks with the duo over the acquisition of the platform’s licence.
But Ecobank denied allegations of infringement, saying the platform was already in use in its West African markets since 2015.
The Industrial Property Tribunal allowed Ecobank Kenya to continue using the platform pending a final hearing on the grounds that millions of the lender’s customers would be unfairly denied services if it issued suspension orders.
“The balance of convenience would in the view of the Tribunal tilt in favour of the respondent who has been exploiting the 'Save as You Spend' and whose customers would be greatly inconvenienced if the respondent were to be ordered to stop offering the service,” the court ruled.
The lender held a Zoom meeting with the two start-ups in August 2021 as they pitched to have the bank use the savings platform at a fee. But the three parties never held a follow-up meeting.
Ecobank Kenya’s website says Save As You Spend allows its customers to automatically save 10 percent of any amount they spend.
Jipay Payment Solutions Limited targeted 15 million informal workers in Kenya to automatically save 10 percent of any amount spent, helping them to be financially independent in old age and retirement.
Documents filed before the tribunal show that Ashanti Pension Insurance registered the savings model in October 2020.
Jipay Payment Solutions Limited and Ashanti Pension Insurance say they became aware that Ecobank Kenya was using their product in March 2022 through social media and billboards.
The tribunal questioned why the start-ups took more than a year before challenging the use of the platform without their consent.
Ecobank says that the roll-out of the product in Kenya was not in any way related to the meeting that it held with representatives of the two start-ups in August 2021.
