Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), the umbrella body of the banking industry, on Thursday unveiled its own digital payments platform dubbed PesaLink which they hope will challenge Mpesa by significantly reducing the cost of transactions.
“PesaLink, will for the first time enable customers to make payments between banks in real-time, around the clock, without having to go through intermediaries. This revolutionary peer-to-peer (P2P) product is offered by Integrated Payment Services Limited (IPSL), a fully-owned subsidiary of KBA formed to implement the platform upon which this and other digital innovations will run.” said Kenya Bankers Association in a statement.
The association few days ago received a go ahead from the Central Bank of Kenya to initiate the roll-out of PesaLink to banks and their customers. The phased implementation will begin with the banks that have completed the pilot exercise and have received product approvals, including Standard Chartered Bank; Co-Operative Bank; Barclays Bank ;Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA); I & M Bank; Diamond Trust Bank; Gulf African Bank; Guardian Bank; Victoria Commercial Bank; Credit Bank; Prime Bank; and Middle East Bank. As the first set of banks roll out the product to their customers, the rest of the banks are in various stages of testing the system.
The product has been in the making since 2013, when KBA member banks decided to invest in an industrywide switch, which is an integrated information sharing network.
Giving is remarkds during the launch, KBA Chief Executive Officer, Habil Olaka said “The system will enable users to transact as low as Sh10 to as much as Sh999, 999 across the banking system. In effect, it will facilitate both large transactions, as well as such micropayments that millions of Kenyan settle in cash every day, including paying for groceries at the market, a haircut or bus fare,” he said.