Barclays Bank Kenya has today announced a partnership with Safaricom that will see M-PESA services available via Barclays outlets. Barclays becomes the 8th bank to do so in the country. The service will see Barclays becoming a super-agent that will see individuals withdrawing depositing using their Barclays accounts and M-PESA agents who can now purchase electronic float from Barclays bank.
Sepaking during the launch in Nairobi, Adan Mohammed, Regional Managing Director for Barclays East and West Africa said the rolling out of M-PESA banking services is in line with the Barclays strategy of widening customer access to financial services through innovative channels. "Customers are at the heart of everything we do. We are deeply committed to growing our presence in East and West Africa. We therefore  continue to respond to and cater for diverse customer segments in terms of channels, products and services. Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph (Pictured) was very vivid during the launch of the partnership, explaining that he and Adan had had a heated and lengthy discussion on the roll out of M-PESA to banks. Michael said that Barclays had proved him right by eventually coming to him.
Michael also said that M-PESA had contributed more to the GDP of Kenya than any other industry, adding that it was a complement to traditional banking industry rather than a competitor. "Most M-PESA transactions are between Kshs. 2,000 - Kshs. 4,000 which cost abut Kshs. 30. Traditional banks can not offer such low cost transactions," said Michael. The Safaricom CEO also watered down  recently launched solutions offered by other competitors in the mobile money transfer scene. Michael said the products could not match M-PESA's innovation and success. "Go to the countryside, M-PESA is a verb, " he said. He added that M-PESA had continued to attract regulators, telecom operators from around the world who were interested in studying the product, stating that he would be meeting regulators from a South American country later in the day. "Retail banking is a dinosaur," said Michael, adding that it was necessary for banks to embrace new technology like M-PESA to survive. Since its launch in 2007, M-PESA has ammaseed over 12.6 million customers and 20,000 agents as of 30th August 2010.