Abroad? Just M-Pesa to pay monthly bills

What you need to know:

  • App linking providers goes live.
  • New platform allows those in diaspora to use phones to clear charges.

Kenyans living abroad can now pay local bills using M-Pesa PayBill following the successful launch of a new money transfer platform.

Digital money transfer provider SimbaPay has connected its platform to mobile money transfer for customers globally.

Users can now access PayBill using the application which was earlier restricted to local operations with M-Pesa.

It is available for download on Apple and Android app stores. SimbaPay customers will not require a Safaricom phone number or M-Pesa registration to use the service, the transactions will not attract any charges.

PAY VENDORS FASTER

“Our customers want to pay vendors in Kenya faster and without having to go through friends and family,” Mr Nyasinga Onyancha chief executive for SimbaPay said.

“This new product allows them to do just that, especially for time-sensitive payments such as those to hospitals, stock brokers and the like.”

The platform will be beneficial to Kenyans in the UK, with a bank account, debit card or credit card. Other countries in Europe will soon access the service as SimbaPay positions itself to launch in there.

The majority of M-Pesa PayBill numbers and vendors have been pre-loaded on to the SimbaPay platform which eliminates the need for customers having to remember a vendor’s number.

At the time of making an M-Pesa Paybill transfer using SimbaPay, customers will be required to select the vendor to be paid and then enter their account number.

The app is also under operation in Nigeria after being launched this month.