Equity steps up competition for mobile money customers with cheaper transfer service

Equity Bank has stepped up competition for mobile money customers by making it free for its subscribers to send money to Airtel subscribers and within its network while capping fees charged on transfers to other banks at Sh200.Users of the new Equitel service will send any amount of money to customers within the bank and up to Sh1 million from their mobile phones to other banks, a significantly higher sum than the current maximum transfer of Sh140,000 per day on Safaricom’s M-Pesa, which must be done in two instalments…[...]

Firms eye deals during Obama summit

Kenyan firms are keen to find global partners with expertise and financial clout to help drive their expansion. Industrialists, entrepreneurs and bankers said through their unions, they were keen to find global partners with expertise and financial clout to help drive their expansion in East Africa and beyond…[...]

NCPB to tame high flour prices with cheaper 2m bags of maize

Nearly two million bags of maize will be released from the strategic grain reserve to millers at a lower price to curb the rising cost of flour.Acting Agriculture secretary Adan Mohamed said millers have shunned maize from the strategic grain reserve (SGR) held by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) due to its cost.They also argue that the maize that the government is offering them has stayed for long and most of the grain cannot meet the milling standards…[...]

Safaricom’s new post-paid tariff eyes high spenders

Safaricom has launched a new post-paid call tariff targeting its high spending customers.The telecoms operator said the ‘Advantage Plus’ tariff plan unveiled on Monday will cost customers between Sh3,000 and Sh10,000 a month for a pre-set amount of talk time, SMS and data usage.This is the fourth post-paid tariff for Safaricom customers. The two other similar payment plans that have pre-set access charge between Sh1,000 and Sh2,500 per month. They were introduced in 2011…[...]

NSE foreign investor weekly outflow hits new high of Sh1.7bn

The Nairobi Securities Exchange last week recorded its highest weekly foreign investor outflow this year at $16.99 million (Sh1.7 billion), pushing the main index further down towards the 4500 levels.According to Standard Investment Bank, the foreign investors in the market were net sellers for the fifth week in a row, and the exits last week, especially on the Equity Bank stock bring this month’s net outflow to Sh2.9 billion.Foreign investors have this month dominated trading on the bourse, with locals exercising caution in trading as they await a clearer signal from the market on its longer-term direction…[...]

NSE targets big investors with new trading board

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has opened a new restricted trading board for fixed income securities targeting high net worth individuals and institutional investors in a bid to raise bond turnover.The introduction of the board comes at a time when stockbrokers are bracing for an assault from banks after the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) issued them with licences to trade directly in securities…[...]

Equity offers cheap loans to good borrowers on Equitel

Equity Bank will price its loans to thin-SIM Equitel subscribers on their borrowing history in a system that will reward good borrowers with cheap loans.James Mwangi, chief executive of the bank, said the gap between good and bad borrowers will be four percentage points. This means that while a good borrower can get a loan for 16 per cent a bad borrower will access the same facility for as high as 20 per cent…[...]