Customer deposits on Safaricom’s mobile money platform M-Pesa dipped by a marginal Sh1.3 billion during the six-month period ended September 2024, extending a trend observed during the six months to March when the sums fell by Sh10 billion.
The 0.5 percent dip in the current review period, which brought the deposits to Sh262 billion from Sh263.3 billion in March, reflects an extension of a softening economic setting characterised by a drop in money in circulation.
It also signals increased usage of cash and other platforms, including bank accounts.
Traditionally, M-Pesa is used more for transfers and payments as opposed to savings, explaining its relatively smaller deposit base despite having more customers compared to banks.
Safaricom data shows that during the half year to September, the value of transactions on the M-Pesa platform grew 10.7 percent to Sh20.85 trillion from Sh18.83 trillion during a corresponding period last year.
Similarly, the volume of transactions jumped 30.6 percent to 17.09 billion up from 13.09 billion in a similar period last year while the number of M-Pesa agents grew 2.4 percent to 266,071 from 259,730.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange listed firm saw its year-on-year M-Pesa revenue jump 16.6 percent to Sh77.22 billion while one-month active customers grew 4.1 percent to 33.5 million.
“We have seen great performance in new products like Pochi la Biashara and Merchant overdraft products as we continue to support our SMEs in our ecosystem,” wrote Safaricom in its half year report.
“The number of Pochi tills more than doubled to 869,020 while merchant overdraft customers grew 72.9 percent year-on-year to 52,270.”
The first half of the telco’s financial year coincided with a period of heightened economic uncertainty triggered by the eruption of youth-led protests, with a report published by Stanbic bank revealing that most middle-income households were delaying spending decisions during the period.
Safaricom started disclosing the value of deposits in M-Pesa in September last year, coming after it took control of the M-Pesa Holding Company from its parent company, Vodafone Group, for a token amount of $1 (Sh129).
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) wants M-Pesa split from the telecoms business to enable a more effective regulation of the mobile financial services.
Officially launched in Kenya in March 2007, the M-Pesa platform offers a wide range of financial services that include cash transfers, credit provision as well as payments, and has over the years entrenched its position as the mobile money leader in the country.
