January 2014
Featured in this insight: Electricity, Financial services, Gas, IT & telecommunications, International
Survey finds half of Kenyans paying utility bills via mobile money: According to a new survey commissioned by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) in conjunction with Think Business, almost half (48%) of Kenyans are using mobile money to pay for utilities such as electricity and water. Additionally, three-fifths (60%) are also using mobile money for financial and banking services.
The highest percentage of bill payments was for school fees at 16%, goods for home at 13% and the office at 8% while entertainment stood at 8%.
Among respondents, three-fifths (64%) said they send and receive money through mobile phones.
Meanwhile, a separate survey conducted by HumanIPO showed more than twice the amount of Kenyans using mobile money services than commercial banks, with 11.5 million adults using mobile money services, compared to 5.4 million using traditional banking services.
In November 2013, a further report by the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) found the proportion of Kenyan adults using mobile money services had increased to three-quarters (75%).
Habil Olaka, Chief Executive of the KBA, said:
“With the growth of technology use in our economy, banks and financial institutions have seen the need to make a paradigm shift from the traditional models of operation in the banking and microfinance sectors."
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