by Ronald Njoroge
NAIROBI, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan bankers' mobile payment platform will be fully operational by June, officials said on Monday, amid complaints that the country's banks are losing customers and revenues to popular mobile transactions.
Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) CEO Habil Olaka told a media briefing in Nairobi that the platform that was launched in February has so far enrolled 1 million customers.
"So far 23 out of the 43 operational banks have rolled out the platform successfully to their clients so the platform should be fully operational by June," Olaka said when the KBA signed a partnership agreement with the Kenya Community Development Foundation.
The PesaLink digital platform will enable bank customers to transfers funds to other bank accounts instantaneously from their mobile phones.
The CEO said that the digital system is part of a raft of technologies that the banking sector is deploying in order to increase their efficiency.
Last year, Kenya passed a law that capped the interest rate that commercial banks could charge for loans.
The law has reportedly negatively impacted on the profitability of the banking sector, forcing the sector to seek interventions to reverse the decline of revenue.
Olaka said that the PesaLink will help to fend off competition from the popular mobile money transfer systems.
