I&M Bank has announced a waiver of all transaction charges for mobile money transfers, through its digital banking platform I&M On The Go (OTG), to mobile money wallets.
The waiver makes I&M Bank the first bank in Kenya to officially offer zero fees for Bank to M-PESA and Airtel Money transactions. This follows the reintroduction of transaction charges by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in January 2023 after they were removed during the COVID crisis in 2020.
The free transaction charges currently only apply to M-PESA and Airtel Money, but the bank has announced that plans are underway to include T-Kash transactions for Telkom Kenya customers.
Speaking during the press conference, I&M’s General Manager for Digital Business, Mr. Michael Mwangi said “As part of our approach to service delivery, recent customer feedback showed that as much as our transaction rates are favourable, there was an opportunity to review our policies on bank to mobile money wallet charges for the digitally active customer. We believe this move will offer new and existing customers a huge relief during tough economic times and encourage more customers to transact on mobile.”
The payment ecosystem between mobile money wallets and bank accounts expanded significantly when the transaction charges were waived in March 2020 because of the COVID pandemic emergency measures.
“A key focus for the bank since the launch of our current iMara 2.0 strategy is to enhance our digital banking solutions to meet the needs of our customers. We look forward to seeing these numbers grow with digital transactions gaining favour among our digitally active customers,” concluded Mr. Mwangi.
I&M Bank is a leading commercial bank headquartered in Kenya, with a regional presence in Mauritius, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda. It was founded in 1974 as a community financial institution and has since evolved into a publicly listed Kenyan-based regional commercial bank offering a full range of Corporate, Business, Premium Client, and Personal financial services. I&M Bank is wholly owned by I&M Group PLC which is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). British International Investment (BII) owns approximately 10.68% of I&M Group PLC.