Any transfer of money from a bank account to money wallets such as MPesa, Airtel will attract a 20 percent excise fee beginning January 1, 2021
Different commercial banks on Friday have been sending text messages to their customers reminding them of the directive issued by the Central Bank of Kenya.
“ Dear Member, we wish to notify you that effective 1st Jan 2023, transactions between bank and mobile money wallets will be charged following the recent announcement by Central Bank of Kenya. For queries call 0763000000,” reads a text from Equity bank.
CBK had earlier announced it planned to reintroduce the charges on transactions between mobile money wallets and bank accounts which had been waived on March 16, 2020.
This was three days after the Covid-19 pandemic was announced in Kenya.
The payment service providers (PSPs) and banks had agreed to revise the maximum charges on the transactions following consultations with the CBK.
The revised maximum charges for transfers from bank accounts to mobile money wallets will be reduced by an average of 61 percent while the inverse (mobile wallets to bank accounts) charges will fall by an average of 47 percent.
Tariffs for paybills used to collect and disburse funds by businesses, companies and institutions such as schools and utilities will meanwhile be reduced by an average of 50 per cent.
At the same time, charges levied by banks for bank-to-mobile money transactions will be reduced by a mean of 45 per cent.
