Mobile cash growing fastest, says new report
A global research firm has identified debit card and mobile payment as the fastest growing industries in Kenya.
Market Publishers Ltd, which has offices in Britain, Russia and in the US, said Kenya’s mobile payments business has reached an equal level of trust with similar enterprises in South Korea and Japan.
“In 2011, transactions worth Sh318 billion were settled by the use of mobile payment services and with plans to form a regional trading block comprising the East African community, Kenya could become the launch pad for a boom in electronic payments across East Africa,” says the report.
In the meantime, the volume of Internet users surpassed a 7.48 million mark in 2012 compared to 3.3 million in 2011, setting the stage for a positive impact on Internet banking.
The report says government commitment in the multi-billion fibre-optic cables investment was expected to increase the number of users across the country.
Market Publishers says use of debit cards also showed remarkable increase with the Compounded Annual Growth rate, rising steadily to stand at 56.52 per cent during the review period between 2008 and 2012.
However, uptake of credit card use remains relatively low with the Central Bank of Kenya showing only a paltry 137,000 cards in circulation last year.
