From Tuesday, August 15, you will be allowed to transact and hold 500,000 shillings in your M-Pesa account.
This comes after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) approved Safaricom’s request to raise M-Pesa account limits to Sh500,000, bringing competition to digital lenders, microfinance institutions, and commercial banks.
The new approvals effectively transform Safaricom into a huge digital bank, shifting the battle for banking services away from traditional brick-and-mortar banking halls and onto clients’ phones.
Kenyans are familiar with the idea of a digital bank, as most institutions have embraced internet platforms in order to survive.
Safaricom’s current transaction limit of Sh150,000 will continue, the company added.
Even yet, clients can make as many transactions as they want up to the daily limit of Sh500,000.
The increased limitations will allow consumers and enterprises to use their M-Pesa savings and business capital in the same way as they would a traditional bank account, allowing Safaricom to compete with commercial lenders for digital transactions.
According to Safaricom, the move will benefit businesses, particularly SMEs, as the number of cashless transactions grows.
