- Local banks have been spending 30 per cent of their operating costs on digital innovation
- There were 1.9 million new mobile money customers registered in the twelve months to December
The use of hard currency and card payments in the country dropped significantly last year on the high uptake of mobile money services.
According to the latest Financial Sector Stability report released by the Central Bank of Kenya, this affected the total amount of money in circulation, dropping by over Sh1 billion in four months to April, and so did the number of ATMs in the country.
The number of automated teller machines (ATMs) in the country fell by 19 per cent last year to 2,366 from 2,412 in 2020 as banks intensify innovations around mobile money.
According to Financial Deepening Sector (FSD), local banks have been spending 30 per cent of their operating costs on digital innovation, translating to close to Sh1 trillion in past five years.
The number of people using mobile money in the country has been on the increase, with data from CA showing the total value of deposits held within mobile money services in the quarter ended on March 22 stood at Sh1.258 trillion.
Mobile money providers had 27.1 million active customers, up from 25.7 million in December 2020 or 5.3 percent annual growth in new customers.
In total, there were 1.9 million new mobile money customers registered in the twelve months to December, down from 3.6 million new customers registered in the twelve months of the previous year.
Generally, mobile money agents rose by 3.8 per cent last year to 298,272 while the number of mobile money subscriptions rose by 2.2 per cent in the same period to 68.03 million.
According to CBK, the number of subscriptions has grown by a further 1.1 per cent to 68.72 million as of April 2022.
The value of monthly mobile money transactions nevertheless continues to stretch having moved from Sh590.4 billion in January last year to Sh622.1 billion in December before a further extension to Sh663.5 billion in April.
The data by the regulator shows coins and notes in circulation rose by 11.8 per cent last year to Sh253.5 billion as politicians enhanced spending in preparing for tomorrow’s general election.
Furthermore, currency in circulation less cash in banks and demand deposits rose by 7.7 per cent year on year in 2021 to Sh1.85 trillion and by a further percentage point to Sh1.87 trillion in April this year.