WayaWaya, Choice Bank launch AI-driven banking app
Fintech firm WayaWaya has entered retail banking through a partnership with Choice Bank, betting on artificial intelligence to win customers in Kenya’s crowded digital banking market.
The deal lets WayaWaya offer bank accounts, multi-currency wallets, local and international transfers, and utility payments under Choice Bank’s Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) licence.
Choice Bank, a microfinance lender, will provide the regulated banking infrastructure. WayaWaya will build the app and manage customers.
The product, called WayaWaya Banking, uses AI to analyse a user’s transactions and reorganise the app around how they earn, spend, save and invest.
“Traditionally, banks build applications around products and expect customers to adapt to them. We believe the future should be the opposite: banking should adapt to the customer,” said Teddy Ogallo, WayaWaya’s Founder and Chief Executive.
An entrepreneur collecting payments and paying suppliers would see cash flow and business expenses first. A salaried worker would get budgeting and savings tools up front, while an investor’s dashboard would highlight portfolio activity.
The app is also designed to shift as a customer’s circumstances change. For example, a salaried user who starts a side business would begin to see tools for collecting payments and tracking expenses.
“The idea is to move beyond customers having to search for financial services. Instead, the platform can increasingly anticipate their needs,” said Mr Ogallo.
Choice Bank Chief Commercial Officer Patrick Russel said the lender’s role is to supply the banking rails, with WayaWaya controlling how services are presented to users.
“WayaWaya can then tailor how those services are presented to a business owner managing daily collections or an individual setting money aside,” said Mr Russel.
Regional ambitions
WayaWaya was founded in 2016. It says the Kenyan launch is the first step towards building a pan-African neobank through partnerships with licensed banks in other markets.
The firm plans to connect those partners through a single app, so that businesses operating across borders do not have to deal with a separate banking system, payment network and currency in each country.
“A business expanding from Kenya into Nigeria or Uganda should not have to navigate an entirely disconnected financial experience in every market,” said Mr Ogallo.
The deal adds to a growing list of banking-as-a-service arrangements in Kenya, where licensed lenders rent out their regulatory cover to fintechs that compete on product design.
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