Safaricom has started notifying M-Pesa users of the transaction costs charged for cash transfers and bill payments, in compliance with a Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) directive.
According to the company, customers who use M-Pesa to pay a bill or transfer cash will now be informed of the fees associated with the transaction via an SMS after the completion of transactions.
This move is in line with a directive issued by the CAK last year, which requires customers to receive warnings on how much a transaction will cost before they confirm the payment. The telco plans to implement a real-time notification system in upcoming phases of the project.
A statement from the company reads:
"In the second phase, customers will receive a pop-up message informing them of any charges prior to the transactions."
The final phase will see Safaricom effect changes to its system so that users of value-added services such as M-Shwari and M-Tiba can receive similar notifications, which must be completed by the end of May as per the CAK deadline.
Background ¶
The CAK ordered financial institutions and telcos providing mobile money services to begin disclosing fees associated with such services to customers last year, aiming to address the lack of transparency surrounding these fees.
Safaricom is the second telecom firm, after Airtel, to comply with the directive. As reported by the Business Daily, only eight firms had complied with the order as of last week, including Co-operative Bank among the first-tier banks.
Market Context ¶
The mobile money market has experienced significant growth, with Kenyans moving Sh2.46 trillion through mobile money in the nine months to September 2016. Despite efforts by banks to enter the market, M-Pesa remains dominant.
The government has been working to increase transparency and competition in the sector, including ordering Safaricom to make public charges for its Lipa na M-Pesa service in 2015. New regulations accompanying the ICT Policy document aim to increase mobile money inter-operability and reduce prices.
The recovered account cited reporting by Nairobi News,Nation.
