Safaricom is seeking to diversify investment to insurance unit trust and saving products as it waits for the regulatory approvals to fill a larger market of the financial services market and taps more earnings from mobile money platform M-Pesa.
The three products dubbed Bima (Insurance), Mali (mobile savings) and a unit trust investment product has been tested by Safaricom for a while and seeking approvals from the Capital Markets Authority, Central Bank of Kenya and the Insurance Regulatory Authority for the commercial launch.
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa says the telco wants to tap into M-Pesa’s 26.7 million active customers that transact about Sh1.5 trillion a month to grow the savings, unit trust and insurance products.
“We are exploring the area of wealth management. We have developed a couple of products and we are seeking regulatory approval. Until the approval is given, we may not want to announce the specifics of the products,” said Peter Ndegwa.
He added that he wants Safaricom to use the new products as part of the strategy to broaden M-Pesa into a financial service provider that will rival banks, insurance firms and fund managers.
This is the latest plan to grow the mobile money platform beyond sending and receiving cash, tapping loans as well as paying for goods to include insurance and wealth management.
By Christabel Airo
