CBK data shows payments worth nearly Sh1.39 trillion were settled through cards, a drop of 0.51 per cent compared with Sh1.4 trillion in 2016.
The number of card transactions has been on a steady fall since 2013, the CBK statics show, underlining the impact mobile innovations have had on payment systems.
Payments through plastic cards fell by Sh7.14 billion in the 12 months ended December 2017 compared with a year earlier reflecting a rise in mobile transactions.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data shows payments worth nearly Sh1.39 trillion were settled through cards, a drop of 0.51 per cent compared with Sh1.4 trillion in 2016.
The number of card transactions has been on a steady fall since 2013, the CBK statics show, underlining the impact mobile innovations have had on payment systems.
A total of 215.57 million transactions were done via card platforms, dominated by debit cards and point of sale machines, compared with 216.24 million the year before as hope of climbing back to an all-time high of 338.07 million in 2013 continued to wane.
The volumes in 2017 are equivalent to just 13.97 per cent of the 1.54 billion transactions conducted via mobile phones.
The value of cash settled via plastic cards last year is just about 38 per cent of the Sh3.64 trillion worth of payment deals transacted on mobile phones.
Popularity of mobile cash deals saw commercial banks in February 2017 launch their own mobile payment platform, PesaLink, enabling inter-bank transactions of up to Sh999,999.
“All segments of society are now using it (mobile money). Even myself, I use my debit card less, and you have seen also that the banks, Visa and MasterCard are also having to reshape their strategies to remain relevant and protect market share given what’s happening with mobile money,” head of financial services for East Africa at consultancy and audit firm EY Robert Nyamu said during a past interview.
“You have seen what they (banks) are doing: they are no longer building brick-and-motor. It is all about ‘how do we get digitally-connected to our customers and would-be customers and suppliers’?”
One of the limitations of mobile money transactions compared to other payment platforms such as plastic cards is the low daily limit of Sh140,000 though.
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