Mobile cash transfers a tough call, says Uhuru

Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta has said that mobile phone money transfers present enormous responsibilities and challenges to the government in terms of policy and supervision.

“On our part, at the Treasury, the Central Bank and the Communications Commission of Kenya, we recognise the need to further strengthen our supervisory capacity in order to stay ahead of the curve,” he said.

“And we commit to rise to the occasion by providing adequate supervisory infrastructure and an enabling environment for conducting good business.”

Speaking during the opening of the annual AITEC Banking and Mobile Payment Comesa Conference in Nairobi, Mr Kenyatta said that it was gratifying that Kenyan banks have not been affected “very much” by the global recession and financial crisis that hit the world last year.

He, however, said that the government will continue to carefully monitor liquidity and availability of credit in the banking system while dealing with any stress in the sector.

Payment card

Visa Sub-Saharan Africa general manager Charles Niehaus said that electronic payments have significantly contributed to the realisation of economic development goals for emerging and industrialised nations around the world.

Governments in Latin America and the Caribbean, for instance, have implemented payment card incentive programmes similar to an initiative implemented successfully in South Korea to restore tax revenues after the economic crisis of 1997.

The Korean Government specifically mandated policies to promote payment card usage among consumers, businesses and merchants.

Over time, these measures were successful in increasing Korean national tax revenue, while contributing to overall economic growth.

Governments in Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Uruguay have implemented incentives that drive payment card usage to provide greater transparency of financial transactions and improve tax collection. Incentives have ranged from lotteries to VAT rebates.