Kenyan operator Safaricom is seeking regulatory approvals to launch insurance, unit trust and saving products, Business Daily reported. It has been testing three products called Bima (Insurance), Mali (mobile savings) and a unit trust investment product. Safaricom has sought approvals from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) for their commercial launch.
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa says the company wants to tap into M-Pesa’s 26.7 million active customers, who transact about KES 1.5 trillion a month. Ndegwa says Safaricom wants to broaden M-Pesa into a financial service provider that will rival banks, insurance firms and fund managers. Mali (Kiswahili for wealth) will offer interest rates of 10 percent on deposits capped at KES 70,000 per saver based on a pilot test. It started testing the savings product in December.
Business Daily said policymakers say Kenya suffers from a low national savings rate. At 10 percent, the return from Mali is nearly double the current interest rate that banks are paying on savings. Safaricom did not divulge details of the unit trust product, but it is expected to partner with a fund manager already licensed by the CMA, who will also approve the new product.
