Rethink fees on mobile money bank transfers

The move sought to encourage Kenyans to embrace cashless transactions as one of the measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

According to CBK data, the free mobile transfers pushed the value of transactions to more than half of Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP).

The data shows that the transactions hit 56.8 percent of the GDP up from 48.7 percent in 2020, which is projected to reach 68 percent by the end of the year.

This forecast might not materialise as mobile money users are likely to reduce bank transfers due to the charges and instead return to hard cash transactions.

Understandably, banks and telcos need to earn money from their investments in infrastructure and human resources for operations.

However, we urge all the stakeholders to reconsider the mobile-bank fees and incentivise customers to continue using the services.

Cashless transfers have a lot of benefits to the economy compared to the use of hard money, including the ease of tracking money trails and transactions.

Also, it makes it easier to detect and fight money laundering.

Strike a middle ground between profits and the public good.