Equity Bank is partnering with telecommunication firm Safaricom Ltd. to launch a mobile funds-transfer service called M-Kesho, the Kenya-based bank announced in a statement. The service will launch by the end of this month.
Though M-Kesho, participants may transfer funds to and from special M-Pesa accounts at Equity via their M-Pesa-enabled mobile handsets, according to the statement. M-Pesa users also may access their funds at any of Equity’s 650 ATMs via those special accounts.
Equity is the leading microfinance bank in Africa and is listed at the Nairobi and Uganda stock exchanges. With more than 4.5 million accounts, it is the largest bank in the region.
Launched in partnership with Vodafone Group PLC in March 2007, Safaricom’s M-Pesa is a branchless mobile-banking service that enables consumers to deposit and withdraw funds from a network that includes airtime resellers and retail outlets that serve as banking agents. The service enables users to transfer funds to other users and nonusers, pay bills, and purchase airtime.
As of March, M-Pesa served some 9.5 million subscribers and had handled person-to-person funds transfers valued at more than 405 billion Kenyan shillings (US$5 billion or 4 billion euros) since its launch.
