Revolutionary banking service to be launched across Africa

The Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) is set to launch its M-Shwari mobile banking service in Rwanda by April next year before rolling out to West Africa as it spreads its wings across Africa.
The move will see CBA become the first Kenyan lender to venture into West Africa as it aims to penetrate the region through Ivory Coast in partnership with MTN.
Already, the bank has signed up more than 1.23 million customers and processed 257,000 loans in Uganda on its equivalent of the M-Shwari in partnership with MTN Uganda.
 
The bank aims to provide the revolutionary banking service that allows one to save and borrow money through the phone while earning interest on money saved to 10 countries by 2020.
The service also entitles customers to affordable emergency loans.
According to the CBA’s head of marketing Chris Pasha, feasibility studies conducted in Ivory Coast reveal the West African country is a very promising market.
M-Shwari, the Safaricom mobile money application, was introduced in Kenya in 2012 and services about 80,000 loans per day, with a customer base of 16 million.
 
Last week, CBA announced a 52.7 per cent jump in profits for the nine months of the year largely attributed to the success of M-Shwari.
CBA is Kenya’s biggest privately-owned lender and specialises banking mainly corporate and high-end clients.
However, the introduction of M-Shwari has helped the bank serve a wider population through partnering with other mobile operators.
The Kenyatta family controls 24.91 per cent of CBA through an investment vehicle dubbed Enke Investments Ltd.