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In August this year, Absa Bank launched a new innovation that allows its customers to access their bank accounts and transact via WhatsApp.

Through this solution, Absa customers are able to conduct digital transactions such as account-to-MPESA/Airtel Money transfers, inter-account transfers, bill payments, balance enquiry, among others, on WhatsApp.

To make it even more personal, the bank has given this functionality a human personality as a dedicated 24-hour virtual banking assistant named Abby.

How to register for Absa WhatsApp banking

  1. Save Abby’s number 0710 130 000 as a contact on your cell phone.
  2. Open WhatsApp and search for Abby in your contact list
  3. Say ‘Hello’ to register and follow the steps to start transacting.

The services that you can access via WhatsApp includes;

  • Account balances
  • Bill payments
  • Transaction history
  • Internal Transfers
  • Call center & branch details
  • Offers and campaigns among others

For customers checking their bank balances, Abby can show you transactions going back up to 90 days.

You can do this by asking Abby to ‘Show my transactions from casa account’, or ‘Show transactions from October’.

To see some more ways Abby can show you your transactions you can also try saying

  • Show my incoming transactions
  • Show my outgoing transactions
  • Show transactions between 100 and 500
  • Show transactions from last week
Likewise, if you need to move some money around between your own accounts, just ask Abby to ‘make a transfer’. Abby will then ask you to choose an account to pay from, an account to pay to, and enter the amount.

The Absa WhatsApp feature, Abby, can also pay most of your saved billers. To see a list of available billers, just ask Abby to ‘Pay a bill‘.

Abby will show you which billers are currently available, allow you to select an account to pay from, and ask you how much you want to pay. This makes it easy to pay bills and make other mobile payments.

With this simplified solution, Absa customers have access to a 24/7 digital personal banker who can help them perform transactions upon receiving simple instructions on chat. The same way one would call their Relationship Manager or go to the branch to initiate a transaction is how they need to issue instructions by chatting on WhatsApp.

According to the Global Web Index’s 2020 Social Media User Trends Report, Kenya has the highest percentage of monthly WhatsApp users compared to the rest of the world. About 97% of all internet users in the country active on WhatsApp, presenting a unique opportunity for Absa to accelerate digital adoption of its wide array of services.