CBK Grants Authority to Rabobank Netherlands to Open a Representative Office in Kenya

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has granted authority to Rabobank Nederland to open a Representative Office in Kenya. The authority was granted pursuant to Section 43 of the Banking Act. Rabobank Nederland is a cooperative bank owned by local cooperatives in Netherlands. Apart from offering financial services to its member cooperatives, Rabobank Nederland, which

Buymore Offers Kenyan Students Discounts Through Electronic Cards

Kenyan startup Buymore is offering students discounts on their favourite brands and merchants through an electronic card, and has signed up 20 stores for the programme so far. HumanIPO reported last month Buymore was named a finalist for this year’s edition of the PIVOT East conference to be held in Nairobi on June 24 and

Qatar Airways Forms Strategic Alliance with Safaricom

Qatar Airways, the national airline of the State of Qatar, has entered into a strategic partnership with Safaricom, to launch a service that now enables customers to pay for Qatar Airways tickets using M-PESA. The new service offers greater flexibility for Qatar Airways’ passengers who can now book tickets online on www.qatarairways.com/ke or through the

New Mobile Remittance Corridor Between mHITs Australia and M-PESA Kenya

mHITs, a pioneering developer and operator of mobile payment services, has announced that it’s Australian SMS mobile wallet service has launched an international mobile remittance corridor between Australia and leading mobile money service M-PESA in Kenya. For the first time, this new corridor will provide for instantaneous direct mobile-to-mobile funds transfers between Australia and Kenya.

KCB, KBS Partner for Abiria Card Fare Payment Platform

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and Kenya Bus Services (KBS) have unveiled the Abiria card, which facilitates cashless payments on commuter buses in line with the government’s directive that all public service vehicles migrate to such methods by July 1. Competition is rife in the industry ahead of July 1, with HumanIPO reporting earlier this month

iKaaz Adds Kenyan Feather to Its Mobile Payments Cap

Following a successful entry into the Nigerian market with contactless mobile payments, Bangalore based iKaaz is now ready to offer its popular NFC and bluetooth powered cloud based payments platform to consumers in Kenya. Announcing a strategic alliance with Family Bank, one of Kenya’s leading banks, iKaaz along with its local partner EDGE financial systems

Kenyan Banks Dominate Regional Contest

The East Africa Bank Award for 2014 that was dominated by Kenyan banks seems to have been taken lightly in Tanzania and therefore may not give a true picture of banks performance in the country, according to the organiser of the award. The Chief Executive Officer of the Think Business Limited which organised a survey

Equity Bank to Issue Ultra-slim SIM Cards

Kenya’s Equity Bank plans on issuing subscribers with ultra-slim SIM cards to access mobile money accounts provided by the bank while saving users the trouble of migrating networks, according to a report. The company was last monthgranted a mobile virtual network operator licence by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) and this weekannounced its rollout

Kenya Commercial Bank Launches In-House Processing Centre Built on TranzWare from Compass Plus

Compass Plus, an international provider of retail banking and electronic payments software to processors and financial institutions, has announced that Kenya Commercial Bank, has launched its in-house processing centre built on TranzWare products from Compass Plus. Kenya Commercial Bank set out to replace its entire retail banking system, previously built on separate solutions from different

Equity Bank Unveils MVNO Strategy and Rollout Plan

Equity Bank has unveiled its Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) strategy and rollout plan that is set to launch in July 2014. Equity Bank has hailed their MVNO as the ‘next big thing’: Equity 3.0. The Equity MVNO accords Equity Bank the opportunity to continue its mission of furthering financial inclusion and innovative service offerings