Kenya Tops in Ease of Access to Affordable Financial Services

By / Published September 2, 2015 | 7:16 am

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Kenya has emerged as a country where it’s easy to gain access to affordable financial services out of 21 countries in a survey done by a US–based think tank.

According to the Brookings Financial and Digital Inclusion Project Report which is published by the Brookings Institution, Kenya triumphed over other countries due to her financial inclusion efforts in the year 2015 largely as a result of the expansion of the mobile money market.

Kenya scored 89 percent, closely followed by South Africa which scored 80 percent, Brazil had 78 percent, Rwanda and Uganda went home with 75 percent each while Chile, Colombia and Turkey got 74 percent each.

Since its inception, the mobile money transfer market has been growing in Kenya with information from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicating that in 2014, subscription to mobile money transfer services stood at 26 million subscribers which represented a penetration rate of 60 percent of the total population.

In 2014, cash deposits that were made through mobile money transaction hit the mark of 1269 billion, a rise from 1,033 billion the year before.

During the same survey, Kenya was cited as the best country for allowing both banking institutions and non-banking institutions as well as mobile operators to offer financial services without restrictions.