I&M Bank has stopped levying bank to mobile wallet transfer fees barely two months after its re-introduction.
The waiver that too effect on Wednesday makes the lender the first in Kenya to officially revert back to the offer of zero fees for bank to M-Pesa and Airtel money transactions.
According to I&Ms General Manager for digital business Michael Mwangi the move is aimed at offering new and existing customers a relief during this tough economic times and encourage the use of mobile banking.
"As part of our approach to service delivery, recent customer feedback showed that as much as our transaction rates are favourable, there was an opportunity to review our policies on bank to mobile money wallet charges,” said Mwangi.
For a start the free transfers will apply on the two leading telcos with plans underway to include T-Kash transactions for Telkom.
The free transfer service enforced during the onset of Covid-19 in the country remained in force until December 31, 2022, when the Central Bank of Kenya lifted the moratorium citing an improved economic outlook.
I&M stated that the reintroduction of the charges had increased the cost of living for Kenyans despite a 61 percent drop in the rates compared to pre Covid period.
“We have been charging a normal rate that had been directed by CBK, between Sh100 and Sh500 it was set at Sh10. For higher amounts between Sh20, 000 and Sh150, 000 it was Sh65,” added Mwangi.
On January 12, the High Court in Nairobi suspended the re-introduction of the bank-to-mobile money charges a move that was later overturned.
The lender maintained that the charges would not be reintroduced in future.
However the lender was declined to comment on a motion before the National Assembly pushing for the taxation of transaction fees.
“We can’t pre-empt on that let’s wait and see how things will be,” said General Manager personal and business banking Shameer Patel.
According to CBK data, the waiver in 2020 saw the number of Kenyans actively using mobile money increase by more than 6.2 million between March 2020 and October 2022.
The monthly volume and value of P2P (peer-to-peer) transactions increased from 162 million transactions worth Sh234 billion to 440 million transactions worth Sh399 billion, an increase of 171 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively.
The monthly volume and value of transactions between payment service providers (PSPs) and banks within the two-year period increased from 18 million transactions worth Sh157 billion to over 113 million transactions worth Sh800 billion, an increase of 527 per cent and 410 per cent, respectively.
