The Kenyan government bond M-Akiba, sold through the mobile
phone last year, was a victim of the failure by key players to listen to
the target audience, says regional financial think tank FSD in a
post-issuance
survey carried out to explain its low uptake.
survey carried out to explain its low uptake.
When
it was issued in March last year, M-Akiba, the first mobile-based
Treasury instrument to be sold in Africa, targeted $10 million but only
raised about a quarter of that figure.
According to the
FSD report, key players in the issuance of the bond did not address the
recommendations for the unbanked segment such as the preference for
small denominations in purchasing the government security and maturity
tenure in months not years.
“M-Akiba had the potential
to reach over 30 million registered mobile money account holders, and
even with the excitement and interest when the bond was piloted and
launched, the number of retail customers purchasing bonds proved to be
low,” reads the report authored by Tamara Cook and Evans Osano.
Ms Cook is the head of digital innovations at FSD Kenya while Mr Osano is the financial markets director at FSD Africa.
At the launch, more than 300,000 people registered on the M-Akiba platform, but only 5,988 purchased the bond, raising $2.48 million. The government extended the sale period to allow people more time to buy but there was little difference.
Ms Cook is the head of digital innovations at FSD Kenya while Mr Osano is the financial markets director at FSD Africa.
At the launch, more than 300,000 people registered on the M-Akiba platform, but only 5,988 purchased the bond, raising $2.48 million. The government extended the sale period to allow people more time to buy but there was little difference.
The issuance coincided with the electioneering period, which the issuers say could have impacted the result.
Bond’s target
M-Akiba was a three-year bond sold in denominations as small as
$29 with a return rate of 10 per cent paid semi-annually and a tax-free
status in line with other infrastructure bonds. The bond’s target was
small investors who did not need a bank account to take part.
All
one needed was to register with their phone and after a few minutes,
invest at least $29 — far less than $499 needed to buy other Treasury
bonds — in addition to a cumbersome application process.
Investors
could use mobile phone networks’ financial platforms like M-Pesa to
send money and receive interest payments on the M-Akiba bond, which
could be traded in the secondary market.
The Kenyan
survey also shows that there was a poor understanding of the product,
even by those who bought the bond — less than two per cent knew they
could the Nairobi Securities Exchange if they needed their money.
Further,
the purchasing process was not clear as, after registration, the second
stage did not give clear and immediate instruction on how to complete
the purchase.
“The screenshot displays were sometimes
misleading and confusing, so individuals may not have realised their
purchase was not complete after registration,” notes the survey.
“Over
60 per cent of the individuals interviewed did not receive a single
reminder message after registering, and 70 per cent of those who
registered but didn’t purchase did not know when the investment round
was closing.”
Timing
There
was also poor timing of the launch, as it coincided with national
elections, so media advertising of the product was swamped by election
coverage.
Another reason cited for the poor uptake was
that the bond came at a time when banks were keeping a tight lid on
lending as well as discouraging interest-earning deposits, in the wake
of interest rates capping.
With M-Akiba returns being
priced at 10 per cent per year, it presented the best savings instrument
since a saving account cannot yield that much return. The return on the
three-year bond is about three percentage points above deposit rates at
commercial banks.
M-Akiba was officially launched in
June last year to much fanfare and great hopes that the $10 million on
offer would also sell out. Three months prior, a pilot offer lured
102,632 people to register, but only 5,692 of them went on to buy.
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