CBA Partners With Safaricom to Launch M-Shwari

CBA PARTNERS WITH SAFARICOM TO LAUNCH A REVOLUTIONARY BANKING SERVICE THAT WILL ALLOW MILLIONS OF KENYANS TO SAVE AND BORROW USING THEIR MOBILE PHONES 27th November 2012... 
CBA, Kenya's largest privately owned bank, and leading Integrated communications provider, Safaricom Limited have today announced the launch a revolutionary mobile banking service that will now make it possible for millions of Kenyans to save, earn interest and borrow money using their mobile phones.

Known as M-Shwari, the game changing innovation combines the best of CBA's 50 years of commercial banking experience with Safaricom's globally recognized and award winning M-PESA service. The new product is poised to positively contribute to Kenya's financial inclusion agenda by making it possible for people to save as little as Ksh1, and to earn interest at rates of up to 5% p.a. on their savings. Customers of the service will be able to borrow amounts from as little as Ksh 100 and the more they save the more the credit they will quality for. 

"It is simple. There are no ledger fees, no limits on the frequency of withdrawals, no minimum operating balance and no charges on deposits for M-PESA to M-Shwari Account. You do not need to go to a branch and fill in application forms. Just one click on your phone and you will have a bank account at no cost. M-Shwari is a groundbreaking financial service innovation that will foster a culture of saving and allow Kenyans with no collateral to access micro-saving and loans products through the convenience of their mobile phones at very competitive terms" said Bob Collymore at the launch.

Safaricom's partnership with CBA is a case study of the growing and mutually beneficial convergence between the telecommunications industry and the banking sector. Safaricom has extensive and dynamic relationship with 25 commercial banks that enables the company to offer mobile banking solutions using its M-PESA payment ecosystem.

Commenting on these partnerships, Bob Collymore said, "we value the relationships and partnerships that we have with these banks and other financial institutions totaling to approximately 140. We believe that these partnerships will help us all drive the driving the financial inclusion agenda in Kenya."

"Safaricom was the natural choice for us as our delivery partner for M-Shwari due to our long standing relationship that has facilitated the successful rollout of M-PESA over the last five years," said CBA's Group Managing Director Isaac Awuondo. He added, "With this mobile banking product we will leverage on Safaricom's customer base of over 19.2 million subscribers - 15 million of whom are already M-PESA users-, and maximize on the reach its extensive distribution network comprising 47,000 agents".

It is estimated that over Ksh 300 billion sits outside the formal banking system and M-Shwari is designed to bring some of that money in to the formal banking environment by targeting the 12 million Kenyans identified by the Central Bank of Kenya and the Kenya Bureau of Statistics as being unbanked. 

The loans from M-Shwari will attract a one-time facilitation fee of 7.5% of the borrowed amount. In order to qualify for a loan one needs to be an M-PESA subscriber for at least 6 months, put in some savings in the their M-Shwari account and also use other Safaricom services such as voice, data and M-PESA. Customers can sign up for M-Shwari by going to the Safaricom menu of their phone, select "M-PESA", go to "My Account", then "Update Menu", then enter "M-PESA PIN" and wait to receive the updated M-PESA menu. A key innovation that M-Shwari will introduce to the Kenyan market is a feature that will allow 19 million of its customers to know how much they can borrow using the service instantly by dialing *234*6#. A customer will then get a notification asking them whether they have read and accepted the terms and conditions. 

CBA PARTNERS WITH SAFARICOM TO LAUNCH A REVOLUTIONARY BANKING SERVICE THAT WILL ALLOW MILLIONS OF KENYANS TO SAVE AND BORROW USING THEIR MOBILE PHONES 27th November 2012... 
CBA, Kenya's largest privately owned bank, and leading Integrated communications provider, Safaricom Limited have today announced the launch a revolutionary mobile banking service that will now make it possible for millions of Kenyans to save, earn interest and borrow money using their mobile phones.

Known as M-Shwari, the game changing innovation combines the best of CBA's 50 years of commercial banking experience with Safaricom's globally recognized and award winning M-PESA service. The new product is poised to positively contribute to Kenya's financial inclusion agenda by making it possible for people to save as little as Ksh1, and to earn interest at rates of up to 5% p.a. on their savings. Customers of the service will be able to borrow amounts from as little as Ksh 100 and the more they save the more the credit they will quality for. 

"It is simple. There are no ledger fees, no limits on the frequency of withdrawals, no minimum operating balance and no charges on deposits for M-PESA to M-Shwari Account. You do not need to go to a branch and fill in application forms. Just one click on your phone and you will have a bank account at no cost. M-Shwari is a groundbreaking financial service innovation that will foster a culture of saving and allow Kenyans with no collateral to access micro-saving and loans products through the convenience of their mobile phones at very competitive terms" said Bob Collymore at the launch.

Safaricom's partnership with CBA is a case study of the growing and mutually beneficial convergence between the telecommunications industry and the banking sector. Safaricom has extensive and dynamic relationship with 25 commercial banks that enables the company to offer mobile banking solutions using its M-PESA payment ecosystem.

Commenting on these partnerships, Bob Collymore said, "we value the relationships and partnerships that we have with these banks and other financial institutions totaling to approximately 140. We believe that these partnerships will help us all drive the driving the financial inclusion agenda in Kenya."

"Safaricom was the natural choice for us as our delivery partner for M-Shwari due to our long standing relationship that has facilitated the successful rollout of M-PESA over the last five years," said CBA's Group Managing Director Isaac Awuondo. He added, "With this mobile banking product we will leverage on Safaricom's customer base of over 19.2 million subscribers - 15 million of whom are already M-PESA users-, and maximize on the reach its extensive distribution network comprising 47,000 agents".

It is estimated that over Ksh 300 billion sits outside the formal banking system and M-Shwari is designed to bring some of that money in to the formal banking environment by targeting the 12 million Kenyans identified by the Central Bank of Kenya and the Kenya Bureau of Statistics as being unbanked. 

The loans from M-Shwari will attract a one-time facilitation fee of 7.5% of the borrowed amount. In order to qualify for a loan one needs to be an M-PESA subscriber for at least 6 months, put in some savings in the their M-Shwari account and also use other Safaricom services such as voice, data and M-PESA. Customers can sign up for M-Shwari by going to the Safaricom menu of their phone, select "M-PESA", go to "My Account", then "Update Menu", then enter "M-PESA PIN" and wait to receive the updated M-PESA menu. A key innovation that M-Shwari will introduce to the Kenyan market is a feature that will allow 19 million of its customers to know how much they can borrow using the service instantly by dialing *234*6#. A customer will then get a notification asking them whether they have read and accepted the terms and conditions.