Mastercard plans to set up its Sh1bn African research lab in Nairobi later this year. FILE
Mastercard plans to set up its Sh1bn African research lab in
Nairobi later this year, showing its rising interest in the regions
payments market.
The New York based firm has signed
deals with Guaranty Trust Bank Kenya (GTBank) and Eco Bank. Last year it
sealed deals with Equity Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank, a move that is
seen as a warm up ahead of its Sh1 billion research lab.
The
target is to circulate over 10 million cards in east Africa by 2018.
Visa’s currently boasts of over 7.5 million Visa-branded cards in
circulation in Kenya
With the leadership of Mr James
Wainaina MasterCard’s vice-president and business head for East Africa,
the target is to unseat Visa off its position in the market.
“MasterCard
has been at the forefront of the fight against fraud for nearly 50
years, and electronic payments remain the safest way to pay.
As
technology and payments methods evolve, we are focused on being at the
forefront of the market,” said Mr Wainaina in a statement.
MOBILE MONEY
MasterCard
said it chose Nairobi as an entry to the regional market because of
Kenya’s global repute for piloting mobile money platforms and
development of e-commerce and payment innovations such as M-Pesa.
Central Bank data state that Kenya has over 15,963 point of sale (POS) machines and about 1.3 million plastic cards in circulation including ATM cards, prepaid, debit and credit cards.
Central Bank data state that Kenya has over 15,963 point of sale (POS) machines and about 1.3 million plastic cards in circulation including ATM cards, prepaid, debit and credit cards.
Payments made using
plastic cards dipped nearly one-fifth last year, the first drop in five
years, as swiping to pay bills took a beating from the buoyant mobile
money industry.
The latest Central Bank of Kenya (CBK)
data shows card payments plunged 17.4 per cent to Sh1.2 trillion last
year compared to Sh1.5 trillion in 2013.
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