In a meeting held today, Kenya’s largest telco, Safaricom, has scrapped off charges for all transactions below Ksh 1000. Also, another exciting development came from the meeting that will affect how we transact using M-PESA from Midnight March 16.
According to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), the daily limit for mobile money transactions has been increased to support more use of mobile money services over cash. The new limit will apply across all Payment Service Providers(PSPs), across the country including M-PESA.
Safaricom’s interim CEO, Michael Joseph, yesterday announced that the telco will increase the daily transaction limits on M-PESA, in compliance with the new CBK policies.
Typically, M-PESA users can transact up to Ksh 70,000 in a single transaction. But with the new limit, the maximum cash that can be transacted in a single payment has been increased by two-folds. Thus, now you can send up to Ksh 150,000 in a single transaction.
Besides, before the change, M-PESA could only allow users to transact a maximum of Ksh 140,000 but can now do a total of Ksh 300,000 in a single day. The monthly total limit for mobile money transacts has also been scrapped off.
Consequently, the maximum amount that an M-PESA wallet can hold has also been bumped up now, standing at Ksh 300,000. The new changes, according to the telco, is in support of small and micro business enterprises(SMEs).
Finally, the CBK also says that all “PSPs and commercial banks will eliminate charges for transfers between mobile money wallets and bank accounts.” So far, we are yet to see any bank make an announcement in that direction.
Consequently, Safaricom has waived fees to all M-PESA transactions below Ksh 1000.
Update 09:33AM: Updated to include the CBK guidelines.
Follow us on Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on any future updates.
