Equity Bank Kenya

The entry of Equity Group into the market has opened up space in retail banking, roping in small and micro savers into the system. A lot of reforms have been undertaken in the sector that has led to proliferation of financial products, activities and organisational forms that have improved and increased the efficiency of the financial system.

Advances in technology and changing economic conditions have also created impetus for this change as Equity Bank strives to create products for those at the lower ends of the income pyramid.

Equity Bank has been at the forefront of establishing auto branches in areas previously shunned by the so-called high street banks, including residential areas. It is the Bank’s rapid growth and expansion into previously ‘unbankable’ segments that has inspired an emergence of more innovative financial products, including Mkesho, an electronic money transfer platform that partners the Bank and mobile phone operator Safaricom Limited.

The past few years have also seen the proliferation of new products in the area of Islamic banking, automatic teller machines (ATMs), plastic and electronic money, amongst others within the banking sector. On the cutting edge of all this innovation is Equity Bank, whose reputation as the most people-friendly bank is firmly entrenched.

Its partnership with mobile phone operators Safaricom, Telkom and Yu has created mobile money platforms that are unprecedented in terms of size, convenience and efficiency. These products are slowly transforming this financial market into the ‘Silicon Valley’ of East Africa. In its 20 years in operation, Equity has demystified banking from the rich-manpreserve image it used to have to a necessity for all and sundry.

Armed with the confidence of the people of East Africa as its greatest asset, Equity always seeks to enhance this confidence by continually producing cutting-edge products which make banking easy and relaxed, friendly and fast and convenient.

Touted as the most versatile service in the market yet and introduced in November of 2010, Orange Money combines the features of mobile money transfer products and mobile banking. Orange Money is powered by Equity’s mobile money transfer platform, following the signing of a strategic partnership between Orange Telkom and the Bank and is aimed at deepening financial access to a majority of Kenyans.

The service is mapped onto the customer’s bank account, making it possible for the customer to literally run their accounts from their mobile handsets, with the accounts security aligned to that of the Bank.

The YuCash Solution, a partnership between Equity Bank and Essar Telecom, is another innovative mobile platform launched in December of 2010 and includes a Linked Bank Account, Mapped Bank Account and Card-less ATM withdrawal services.

 
These services allow Equity Bank and mobile phone subscribers signed on to the YuCash mobile money transfer service to link their Equity Bank Account to their registered YuCash lines.

The service also enables Yu and non-Yu subscribers registered on YuCash to transfer funds from their yuCash accounts to their Equity Bank accounts directly from their mobile phones and from their bank accounts to their yuCash accounts.

“Our mission is to offer inclusive customer focused financial services that socially and economically empower our clients and other stakeholders. By joining hands with Essar Telecoms, we are pursuing our commitment to give our customers choices,” explained Dr Mwangi, commenting on the YuCash solution.

Equity Bank remains at the forefront in the money transfer business by partnering with mobile phone operators to provide these innovative solutions, dismantling access barriers and sparking off improved financial inclusion of those at the bottom of the income pyramid.

The institution has welcomed a decision by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to publishnew electronic and mobile cash payments regulations to protect consumers and players in this trade.

These rules are aimed at protecting consumers and service providers as well as growing the market. “We have an oversight role and mandate to ensure safety and efficiency of the payment system to safeguard it from collapse,” says Stephen Mwaura Nduati, the Head of National Payments Unit at CBK.

Available figures indicate that, over the last four years, the mobile cash transfer service has grown to an estimated 15.4 million customers, employing over 39,449 agents countrywide.