Kenya: Kenya launches mobile money merchant interoperability service to boost financial inclusion

Kenya on Friday launched mobile money merchant interoperability across different telecom networks in order to boost financial inclusion.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said that interoperability by Airtel Kenya, Safaricom and Telkom Kenya is an important step in the evolution of Kenya’s payment services, as it allows customers of these mobile money providers to make payments to any merchant regardless of the network they subscribe to.

“This new service will further deepen the digitalization of payments to large and small businesses using the already extensive mobile money rails, and therefore enabling customers to conveniently make payments,” CBK said in a statement.

According to the apex bank, without merchant interoperability of mobile money services, customers were forced to use alternative payment methods that increased the complexity, time and costs associated with making payments.

CBK said that it will continue to guide and facilitate the efforts to achieve full-scale interoperability across the payments ecosystem.