Kenya's Mobile Revolution and the Promise of Mobile Savings
The mobile revolution has transformed the lives of Kenyans, providing not just communications but also basic financial access in the form of phone-based money transfer and storage, led by the M-PESA system introduced in 2007. Currently, 93 percent...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20120306084347 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3275 |
| Summary: | The mobile revolution has transformed
the lives of Kenyans, providing not just communications but
also basic financial access in the form of phone-based money
transfer and storage, led by the M-PESA system introduced in
2007. Currently, 93 percent of Kenyans are mobile phone
users and 73 percent are mobile money customers.
Additionally, 23 percent use mobile money at least once a
day. New potential for mobile money has come with the rise
of interest-earning bank-integrated mobile savings systems,
beginning with the launch of the M-KESHO system in March
2010. The authors examine the mobile savings phenomenon,
using data collected in a special survey in late 2010. They
show that the usage of bank-integrated mobile savings
systems like M-KESHO remains limited and largely restricted
to better-off Kenyans. However, what the authors term
"basic mobile savings" -- the use of simple mobile
money systems as a repository for funds -- is widespread,
including among those who are otherwise unlikely to have any
savings. Holding other characteristics constant, those who
are registered for M-PESA are 32 percent more likely to
report having some savings. |
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