Safaricom Seeks to Increase M-PESA’s Daily Limit from Sh140, 000

Safaricom has requested an increase in the set limit of daily mobile money transaction from 140,000 shillings alluding to the growing adoption of e-commerce in the country.

The telecommunication firm has revealed that it is in negotiations with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to increase the daily limit to double the amount citing the growth and swift advancement of mobile money platforms from individual-to-individual payments to an e-commerce tool.

Sylvia Mulinge, Safaricom’s chief customer officer, on Tuesday, told the media that the ceiling needed a double as banks were permitted to transact up to 999,999 shillings through the inter-bank mobile payment channel, PesaLink.

“Kenyans do a lot of transactions as part of their everyday enterprise and therefore the more we increase the limit the more they are able to use these platforms,” said Sylvia adding that she hoped the central bank would consider their application as it was a cry from Kenyans.

Mobile payments have become a part of Kenya’s transacting culture. Safaricom controls over 80 percent of the market share through M-PESA, with average daily transactions of about 17 million shillings.

CBK data reveals that deals estimated to be worth 1.009 trillion shillings were settled through mobile phones in the last three months through September while 112.78 billion shillings more were settled in the same period in 2017.

The CBK is however hesitant to increase the limit following money laundering fears and financing of terror activities.

M-Pesa customers are currently allowed to send up to 70,000 shillings only per transaction and maintain a maximum account balance of 100,000 shillings.