Safaricom, NCBA and KCB Restructure Fuliza With Free Daily Fee

28 September 2022

 Fuliza Daily Maintenance Fee waived for customers that repay in 3 days. Customers who repay after 3 days to also enjoy up to a 50% price reduction on the Daily Maintenance Fee.           

 Nairobi, Kenya – 28^th September 2022 … Safaricom (NSE: SCOM), NCBA (NSE:NCBA) and KCB Bank Kenya (NSE:KCB) have today announced a restructuring of the popular Fuliza overdraft facility in a move that will see customers transacting on Fuliza access the overdraft facility at a free daily maintenance fee for the first three days for transactions of KSh. 1,000 and below. The move benefits more than 80% of M-PESA customers who seek to complete their payment transactions with Fuliza credit.

Customers that borrow above KES 1,000 will also enjoy 10 – 20% discount on their Daily Maintenance Fee.

The one-off Access fee, levied when customers access Fuliza remains unchanged at 1%, establishing Fuliza as the most accessible and affordable credit facility in the country.

The new discounted rates will be effective on October 1, 2022.

“In line with our purpose of transforming lives and in the spirit of Tuinuane, we have introduced a free daily maintenance fee period for Fuliza transactions of KSh. 1,000 that repay within the first three days. This simple change will reset the use of the Fuliza service to its intended purpose,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO – Safaricom.

Additionally, Safaricom and its partners have announced their commitment to support government efforts concerning Kenyans who are negatively listed in Credit Reference Bureaus. To this end, Safaricom, NCBA and KCB will execute a credit repair mechanism that will see customers who have defaulted on M-Shwari and Fuliza enlist for a credit repair scheme. This will result in the delisting of over four million digital loan defaulters who are negatively listed on CRBs and restore their ability to access formal, regulated credit.

“This restructure aims to reinforce the original purpose of Fuliza – a short term overdraft facility for 4 to 7 days. From the data that we have, it is clear that the original intent for Fuliza to be a short-term credit facility has evolved. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many customer M-PESA wallets are now remaining overdrawn for 14-19 days. This is what we intend to address with this announcement. Additionally, we wish to express our intention to work with our partners and other industry stakeholders to rethink the credit information-sharing framework that underpins CRB to better enable Kenyans, especially the Kenyan enterprenuer to access credit more seamlessly. The specific mechanisms for this for M-Shwari and Fuliza customers shall be announced by 1^st November, 2022.” said, John Gachora, Group Managing Director, NCBA

 Fuliza is a revolutionary M-PESA innovation and is the first solution in the world to enable mobile money customers to complete a transaction when they have insufficient funds. Launched in January 2019, Fuliza was especially instrumental at the height of the COVID pandemic as many customers and businesses switched to cashless transactions.

“We are taking additional deliberate steps to provide affordable credit to Kenyans in our contribution to drive up economic activity and recovery. We will anchor this on strong partnerships with various stakeholders while deploying innovative digital capabilities to enhance financial access and inclusion,” said Paul Russo, CEO - KCB Group.

M-PESA is the world’s leading mobile money solution and Africa’s largest Fintech empowering over 30 million customers in Kenya access a variety of previously unavailable financial services. Consequently, M-PESA has driven financial inclusion in Kenya to more than 84% of the adult population from a low of 25% when it was launched in 2007, placing Kenya third in formal financial inclusion in the continent in the Global Findex indicators.

Reduced Fuliza Rates

 About Safaricom

Safaricom is the leading telecommunication company in East Africa. Our purpose is to transform lives by connecting people to people, people to opportunities and people to information. We keep over 42 million customers connected and play a critical role in the society, supporting over one million jobs both directly and indirectly while our total economic value was estimated at KES 362 Billion ($ 3.2 billion) for the 12 months through March 2021.

 Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and with annual revenues of close to KES 298 billion ($2.5 billion) as at March 2022. Safaricom provides connectivity through wide range of technology, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G in aggregate covering over 99% of Kenya’s population.

 We run the world’s largest mobile payment system and Africa’s largest Fintech, M-PESA, the world’s first mobile money transfer system. By empowering over 30 million customers to transact, save or borrow money through their mobile phone, M-PESA has driven financial inclusion in Kenya to more than 84% of the adult population from a low of 25% and generated over KES 107.6 Billion ($920 million) in revenue as at FY22.

Our subsidiary, Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia, plans to deploy world class network and services in 2022, to contribute to Ethiopia’s digital transformation.

 Safaricom is an equal opportunity employer, actively recruiting staff from different backgrounds reflecting the communities that we serve. We are committed to equal gender representation at all levels. Our target is to achieve 50:50 senior management gender parity by 2025.

 As part of our ongoing commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we continue to work towards improving energy and resource efficiency in our network and facilities to reduce carbon emissions and our fuel consumption. We remain committed to becoming a Net Zero carbon-emitting company by 2050.

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About NCBA Group

NCBA Group is a full-service banking group providing a broad range of financial products and services to corporate, institutional, SME, and consumer banking customers. NCBA Group operates a network of more than 100 branches in five countries including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and the Ivory Coast. Serving over 60 million customers, the NCBA Group is the largest banking group in Africa by customer numbers.  NCBA Bank Kenya PLC is Kenya's third-largest bank by assets. The Bank is set to play a key role in supporting Africa's economic ambitions. The Bank is a market leader in Corporate Banking, Asset Finance, and Digital Banking.

For more information visit https://ke.ncbagroup.com

About KCB Bank Kenya Limited

KCB Bank Kenya Limited is the largest commercial bank in the country.  A subsidiary of KCB Group Plc, the Bank has the largest branch network, with over 200 branches, 367 ATMs, and 16,000 agents offering banking services on a 24/7 basis in East Africa. This is complemented by mobile banking and internet banking services with 24-hour contact center services for our customers to get in touch with the Bank. KCB Group Plc- which also has a presence in Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, and a representative office in Ethiopia also boasts of a wide network of correspondent relationships totaling over 200 banks across the globe and our customers are assured of seamless facilitation of their international trade requirements wherever they are. For further information, please visit https://ke.kcbgroup.com/