The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has revised the daily mobile money transactions limit and size of mobile wallet to Ksh250,000 and Ksh500,000 from a previous limit of Ksh150,000 and Ksh300,000 respectively.
The increase, according to CBK, is aimed at supporting mobile money customers, businesses and institutions including government agencies to make and receive digital payments in larger amounts.
Through this, the apex bank aims to increase the convenience of mobile money services in the country.
The new transaction limit will apply to all transactions that make use of mobile money rails and infrastructure, including transactions between Payment Service Providers (PSPs), banks and other institutions that partner with mobile money providers.
“The increase in the amount transacted through mobile money, and a higher mobile money wallet, will further deepen financial inclusion and facilitate businesses that have been constrained by the size of the mobile money wallet. The new measures are also expected to support efforts by the Government to digitize payments for services offered to Kenyans,” stated CBK.
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“The respective current tariff for transactions of up to Ksh150,000 will apply for transactions of up to Ksh250,000. This includes, but is not limited to, transactions between mobile money providers, other PSPs, banks, and other institutions that partner with mobile money providers,” added the apex bank.
Following the move, CBK has urged PSPs to implement appropriate risk mitigation measures to identify, mitigate and report risks that include money laundering, financing of terrorism and proliferation finance.
Data from CBK between March 2020 and June 2023 revealed that the number of Pay Bills and Till numbers surged by 43 per cent and 267 per cent respectively.
This resulted in the volume and value of Pay Bill payments increasing by 301 per cent and 352 per cent respectively.
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In the same period, the volume of till number payments recorded an uptick of 433 per cent and the value of till number payments soared 166 per cent.
From the data, CBK attributes the growth as partly driven by increasing the limits for mobile money transactions from Ksh70,000 to Ksh150,000 and wallet size to Ksh300,000 from Ksh150,000.
“To build on these gains, CBK received and assessed applications from relevant Payment Service Providers (PSPS) to increase the daily mobile money wallet size from Ksh300,000
to Ksh. 500,000, and the transaction limit from Ksh150,000 to Ksh. 250,000. Following an internal review, CBK approved the new limits,” stated CBK.
