PesaLink gains two million customers in two months

KBA chief executive Habil Olaka at a past media briefing in Nairobi. Two million bank customers have signed up for digital payment PesaLink, barely two months after the platform was launched. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

In Summary

• PesaLink enables customers to make payments between banks in real-time without having to go through intermediaries.
• The service is provided by Integrated Payment Services Limited (IPSL) a local financial technology (FinTech) firm wholly owned by KBA.
• The platform is allowing registered users to transact as low as Sh10 to as much as Sh999,999 across the banking system.

By JAMES NGUNJIRI
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Two million bank customers have signed up for digital payment PesaLink, barely two months after the platform was launched by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA).

PesaLink enables customers to make payments between banks in real-time without having to go through intermediaries.

The service is provided by Integrated Payment Services Limited (IPSL) a local financial technology (FinTech) firm wholly owned by KBA.

“At IPSL, we are glad to celebrate the one-month brand rollout milestone which provides a good test run ahead of our formal launch in the coming weeks,” said IPSL chief executive Jennifer Theuri on Thursday.

“So far, we have managed to link more than two million bank customers on PesaLink drawn from 22 member banks and we hope to significantly raise this number in the next few weeks as we continue to on-board more banks,” said Ms Theuri.

Ms Theuri said the banks on the platform have also managed to consistently record impressive average turnaround rate for transactions on PesaLink.

22 banks

The platform is allowing registered users to transact as low as Sh10 to as much as Sh999,999 across the banking system.

The 22 banks on the IPSL platform include; I&M Bank Kenya, Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA), First Community Bank, Paramount Bank, Jamii Bora Bank, ABC Bank, Bank of Africa, Spire Bank and Equity Bank.

Others are Co-operative Bank, Barclays Bank of Kenya, Credit Bank Ltd, Diamond Trust Bank (DTB), Guardian Bank, Middle East Bank, NIC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Prime Bank, Victoria Bank, Gulf African Bank, Consolidated Bank and Stanbic Bank.

Though KBA, banks have invested to develop PesaLink, which signals the banks’ view of the role they see digital and mobile technologies playing in the national payment system.

The product has been in the making since 2013, when KBA member banks decided to invest in an industry-wide switch, which is an integrated information sharing network.

Related solutions

Founded under the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) National Payments System (NPS) guidelines, the platform has been developed to provide interoperability and related FinTech solutions for banks.

IPSL is also advising on policy direction and will manage the risks associated with payment systems in the market, while providing technical and related guidance to KBA member banks.