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StanChart unveils fees payment app for Kenyan private schools

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The first 100 clients, the bank said, will get app for free. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Standard Chartered Kenya #ticker:SCBK has launched a mobile application to ease payment of fees and improve financial accountability in private schools.

Schools will directly invoice parents and guardians through the app to make payments on the platform.

“The initial schools that came to us were saying we are having these reconciliation problems, are having problems managing our finances, so we decided to build something to sort this out,” StanChart head of retail in Kenya and East Africa, David Idoru told the Saturday Nation on Friday.

It will cost Sh75,000 with schools paying Sh50,000 in subsequent years for maintenance.

The first 100 clients, the bank said, would get it for free.

Parents in other parts of Africa with children in Kenyan private schools will also be able to pay from 27 different banks into the StanChart account.

The app generates a notification to the schools once a parent initiates payment. The bank also notifies the parent once the money is credited into the school account.

The app will also automate reconciliation of all payments through mobile money, bank transfers and cards.

The Nairobi Security Exchange-listed lender has partnered with financial technology firms, Entech that provides school management solutions and payment services provider Cellulant.

Kenya Private Schools Association chairperson Mutheu Kasanga said the app would help the more than 11,000 schools improve accountability.

“Most times money gets lost at the reception where manual receipts are issued, this application will remove that and reduces pilferages,” she said.