Kenya and Nigeria are African Leaders in Mobile Payments
Kenya and Nigeria are the leading nations in the adoption of mobile payments systems in Africa, according to Standard Bank.
The bank reports that it saw the number of payments to mobile wallets in Kenya on behalf of its clients increase by 300% in 2013, with the two countries leading their African neighbours in terms of the adoption of mobile payments technology.
This is a growing trend that is helping Kenya and Nigeria introduced more unbanked citizens to formal financial services, says Sachin Shah, head of cash management products at Standard Bank.
In Nigeria, Standard Bank has initiated a mobile payments pilot project with two clients and facilitated over 4bn naira (NGN) worth of payments this year.
“As a percentage of the population, Kenya and Nigeria are really leading the way in terms of mobile payments adoption in Africa,” says Shah.
“Nigeria’s sheer scale and the early adoption of the systems in Kenya means however that both countries are well placed to leverage this growth potential and the associated benefits.
“Multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in Africa are increasingly looking at ways to eliminate the risk of carrying and transporting cash and the use of mobile wallets to facilitate cashless payments is a cost-effective and efficient way of doing this.”