WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-06-08 Time: 16:00:01 Posted By: News Poster
By Victor Juma
Family Bank’s launch of another mobile-based bank account (Pesa Pap) that links up with M-Pesa sets the stage for a renewed competition among telecom agents, especially in urban areas, analysts say.
The product, just like the recently introduced M-Kesho, allows users to access credit, deposit money into their accounts (where it earns interest), and pull money from their bank accounts to M-Pesa accounts.
Pesa Pap joins M-Kesho and KCB Connect – another mobile banking product from Kenya Commercial Bank – in a trend that is set to empower consumers to bypass ordinary agents offering cash transfer services.
“The services are a natural progression as the Central Bank has been keen on expanding access to financial services while banks seek to recover lost ground in money transfer services. Ordinary telecom agents will have to reinvent themselves to stay afloat,” said an analyst, Mr Muriuki Mureithi, the CEO of Summit Strategies.
Analysts identify consumers, Safaricom, and banks as the parties to benefit the most from the deepening of mobile banking that creates synergies between the mobile platform and the banking system.
For Safaricom, the services allows it to save on commission payouts and fix the current problems seen in operations of ordinary agents.
Safaricom pays lower, fixed commissions to banks compared to its agents who take up between eight shillings and Sh70 per transaction.
Banks like Equity and Family, for instance, earn flat commissions of Sh30 and Sh40 respectively for each M-Pesa transaction, irrespective of the value.
In addition, Safaricom will see a more efficient M-Pesa service as mobile banking solves the problem of lack of float that ails the agents.
Float is the amount of money kept with an appointed bank to facilitate transactions of similar value.
Because of inadequate float, agents prefer customers seeking smaller amounts of money, which translates into high commissions from more volumes.
To motivate its agents to deal in high value transactions, Safaricom in October last year revised its agent commission structure to reward high value transfers and deposits.
Withdrawals of between Sh10,00 up to ShSh20,000 and Sh20,00 and Sh35,000 (the maximum value) now earns M-Pesa agents Sh60 and Sh70 respectively.
Handling deposits of similar ranges earns Sh20 and Sh40 respectively.
With mobile banking, consumers are placed to enjoy lower transfer fees and service availability around the clock.
The services eliminate the previous three-step process of withdrawing money from an ATM, then looking for an agent to deposit the money into an M-pesa account, and transferring the money – a process that costs at least Sh30 more compared to mobile banking for similar end-to-end transactions.
The offerings are generally expected to slow down the need for hard cash in transfers of value.
“We are likely to see more virtual transactions in which value moves from the banking system to the mobile platform and back without getting out in hard currencies as frequently as before,” said Eric Musau, a financial analyst.
The competition is set to spread from targeting Safaricom agents to those offering mobile money services from rival operators.
“We are looking at incorporating other mobile money services from players like Zain and Yu to create a more comprehensive financial ecosystem,” said Kariuki Kihara, the head of innovations and strategy at Family Bank.
Analysts however add that telecom agents have a fresh opportunity to reinvent themselves.
Mureithi said the agents can change into being agents of commercial banks in the looming agency banking model about which Central Bank has issued guidelines.
Original date published: 7 June 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201006080024.html?viewall=1