NCBA Bank has revised its Pesalink pricing on the NCBA NOW App, offering free interbank transfers of up to Kshs 1,000 and a flat fee of Kshs 20 on transfers above that, up to Kshs 999,999.
The move replaces NCBA’s previous tiered pricing structure, which the Bank said made costs less predictable for customers moving money between accounts at different institutions.
Speaking on the revised pricing, NCBA Group Director, Retail Banking, Dennis Njau, said the changes were designed to make transfers more transparent. “The revised NCBA Pesalink pricing reflects our commitment to empowering customers with transparent and cost-effective digital payment solutions,” he said.
NCBA joins a wider industry shift that has been building since April, when Diamond Trust Bank became one of the first lenders to adopt the flat Kshs 20 fee. KCB Bank followed in May, and by July the number of banks and microfinance institutions offering the discounted pricing had grown to 19, including five of the top 10 lenders in Kenya.
Absa Bank Kenya and Stanbic Bank Kenya are among the larger lenders that have already adopted the model, alongside Prime Bank, HFC Bank, Victoria Commercial Bank, Access Bank Kenya, Citibank Kenya, Commercial International Bank and Faulu Microfinance Bank. GTBank Kenya had scrapped fees on transfers below Kshs 1,000 as early as March.
The coordinated rollout falls under an industry-wide campaign, run through Pesalink operator Integrated Payment Services Limited (IPSL), a subsidiary of the Kenya Bankers Association, aimed at standardising pricing across participating banks and driving greater uptake of real-time interbank payments.
The pricing shift comes as digital channels account for more than 80 percent of banking transactions in Kenya, according to the Central Bank of Kenya, with lenders competing to capture a larger share of everyday, low-value payments that have traditionally gone through mobile money platforms.
Pesalink allows customers to move money instantly between accounts at participating banks without routing funds through a mobile wallet, settling transfers in real time.
Through the NCBA NOW App, customers can send up to Kshs 999,999 per transaction under the new pricing, which the Bank said is intended to encourage greater use of digital channels for both personal and business payments.
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