Mobile payments may usually be associated with
the consumer segment, especially in the case of Kenya, where the
local m-payments scheme M-PESA has set an example for successful
models worldwide.
But now, the World Bank and Kenyan regulators
have commenced a pilot project to increase consumers’ participation
in the bond market.
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The project is called Treasury Mobile Direct
and the World Bank is currently in talks with local regulators,
such as the Central Bank of Kenya, the Central Depository &
Settlement Corporation (CDSC), banks as well as telcos. The scheme
is expected to launch around October time, Reuters Africa
reported.
According to Reuters Africa, individual
investors will only need a mobile phone subscription and be signed
up for a mobile money service to use the service.
Telcos will then open an electronic account
with the Central Bank of Kenya on behalf of their consumer.
Yira Mascaro, head of the World Bank’s
financial and private sector development group in Kenya’s capital
Nairobi, told Reuters Africa:
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By GlobalData“Today, any Kenyan can pay their electricity
bill with the phone. So instead of paying your electricity bill you
will pay for the bonds you would have bought and then a small fee
would be charged to the mobile money account, much like you do for
any transfer.”
