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Best online banks in Kenya

In the last 15 years, Kenya has made a lot of progress when it comes to financial inclusion. In 2006, only 26% of the population had access to financial services. Now, 83% of the population has access to at least basic financial services.

This is happening in more and more African countries. It is thought that the number of mobile phones in West Africa has doubled in the last ten years. Mobile payments and banking have been driving this growth.

At the end of 2018, there were 23 million more mobile money accounts in the region than there were the year before. Fintech and digital banking help women, the poor in rural areas, and people who have been forced to leave their homes the most.

Kenya’s new ideas really set the bar for other African countries and governments, especially. Following Kenya’s lead, 24 countries have agreed to make a Digital Economy Blueprint.

African regulators are becoming more and more interested in regulatory sandboxes that give fintech start-ups and digital banks a place to try out their services.

Africa is very different in size, infrastructure, and what we, the (un)banked population, find important.

Many countries have already seen big changes in how many people have bank accounts. In some more mature markets with higher incomes, like South Africa, Mauritius, or Kenya, 69%, 90%, or 82% of adults have bank accounts.

Let’s find out which online banks in Kenya are the best.

 

Best online banks in Kenya

best-overall-bank
Branch bank - logo

Branch

Branch is a financial technology that makes it easy for people in Kenya to pay, transfer money, save, and get loans from their phones, anytime and anywhere.

The company has offices in India, the United States, and Nairobi and Lagos. Branch does business in India, Tanzania, Nigeria, and, of course, Kenya.

People can easily pay their bills, receive and send money, and shop online or in-store with the Branch app.

With a minimum deposit of KSH 1 and a maximum deposit of KSH 1,000,000,000, the savings account has the best interest rates on the market. You can make deposits at any time and in any amount you want. The same goes for withdrawals.

If you want to apply for a Branch loan, you only need your phone number or Facebook account, an ID, and a mobile money account. The company will also need to look at the information on your phone to figure out if you qualify.

Because everything is automated, loans are processed in less than 3 hours, and the goal is to cut that down to just a few minutes.

The loan amounts range from 250 KSH to 100,000 KSH. If you pay back loans on time, you will be able to borrow more.

Branch is an innovative fintech that is changing the way financial services are done in Africa and Asia by using mobile technology and machine learning.

CB Konnect Credit Bank - logo

CB Konnect

The digital banking platform for Credit Bank is called CB Konnect. Credit Bank has been around since 1986 and is a successful bank with a physical location.

The Konnect app can be used by both new and old CB users. To use Konnect, all you need is a phone connected to either the Safaricom or Airtel Networks. To use the app, call *669# or get it from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.

This app lets you:

  • Use PesaLink to send money
  • Pay bills
  • Set up an e-wallet and get loans
  • Use M-Pesa
  • Pay for airtime
  • Get paid ahead of time
  • Access insurance services
  • Handle credit and debit cards
  • Receive account alerts

But CB Konnect isn’t just interesting to people who want to use it for themselves. There are also a lot of services that businesses can use. For example, Konnect E-commerce will make it possible for them to accept payments through mobile money and card payments on their online platforms.

And Konnect2Bank is a way for Credit Bank Merchants to get money sent straight to their bank account from M-Pesa, Airtel Money, and PesaLink.

Prepaid cards make it easy and safe to add money and make purchases at any ATM, POS, or online store. It’s a simple card that you can load with money and use anywhere in the world to shop, eat, buy gas, and pay for services.

DTB bank - logo

DTB

Diamond Trust Bank Kenya Limited has a new mobile banking app called DTB 24/7. (DTB). The app gives users a better experience and lets people with DTB accounts bank anywhere they feel safe.

Even though Diamond Trust Bank’s app isn’t a separate digital bank, it helped a lot of people in Kenya who didn’t have bank accounts get them because it was easy to use and could be accessed from anywhere with a smartphone.

The DTB app lets you:

  • Look at the details of your bank accounts
  • Use a PIN or your fingerprints to make purchases in a safe way.
  • Bills for utilities are sent out 5 days before they are due.
  • Access mobile money transfers and choose who to send money to.
  • Purchase Airtime
  • Upload a custom profile picture to make your app more unique.
  • Masterpass QR lets you scan and pay at stores that accept it.
  • Use RTGS or PesaLink to send money to other banks.
  • Find all the branches and ATMs close to where you are.
  • Checkbook requests can be started and stopped.
Equitel bank - logo

Equitel

    Equitel is a mobile network operator that goes up against M-Pesa from Safaricom. It is at the forefront of helping people get access to financial services because it offers a full range of banking services on mobile phones and other devices.

    Equitel is a new type of hybrid company. It is a telecom company that was made by Equity Bank, a well-known bank. It worked with the international telecommunications company Airtel to make a revolutionary product. It then sent agents all over the country, even to remote areas where other banks and telecommunications companies hadn’t gone, to show how the app could be used.

    With this localized approach, Equitel was able to get more than 22% of the mobile money market in just five years.

    M-Pesa bank - logo

    M-Pesa

    M-Pesa was made in 2007 by Safaricom, a big telecom company that makes up 5% of the country’s GDP. M-Pesa is mostly a service for sending money, but it can also be used as a mobile bank or wallet. The best part is that you don’t need to connect to the internet.

    M-Pesa combines Safaricom’s mobile infrastructure plus agents. Kenya has more than 110,000 agents, and there are even more outside the country. So, people can either do business in person or on their cell phones. The whole system works with technology similar to text messaging, and it is now in ten countries.

    M-Pesa isn’t a real digital bank, but some of the other apps on this list aren’t either. Kenya’s digital banking market is still in its early stages, and most of the power lies with traditional banks and other tech companies, not with new fintechs.

    M-Pesa, on the other hand, is one of the new tools that came about when the banking and telecommunications industries in East Africa worked together.

    It also lets people who don’t have or don’t have enough money in a bank pay for and get goods and services through their cell phones instead of going to a real bank.

    UBA bank - logo

    UBA

    When the British and French Bank (BFB) started doing business in Nigeria in 1948, UBA was born. Most traditional banks, including UBA, now offer internet and mobile banking.

    The mobile app looks nice and has most of the services that a bank branch has.

    UBA offers business banking services in addition to personal accounts:

    • SME Banking
    • Transactional Banking
    • Accounts for Businesses
    • Trade Finance
    • Treasury Products
    • Loans and Financing

    People who want to open a UBA account can choose between a current account and a savings account. Everyone can use a UBA Current Account, whether they have a job, are self-employed, are artists, or live outside of Kenya.

    Pay as you go With a current account, you only pay for the things you do. You only pay for what you use because there are no ledger or maintenance fees. The following things are also true:

     

    • KES 1,000 in the bank to start.
    • No business balance
    • No fees every month
    • All transactions have to pay the same fee
    • You can take out as much as you want by check or ATM
    • There are no fees for moving money between UBA accounts
    • Account statements are free
    • Statements that can be read online
    • Debit card available

    Digital Investing and Savings Apps

    Aside from online banks that let you open a checking and/or savings account, transfer money, spend it with a QR code or virtual and debit cards, and more, there are two apps that are a little different: they make it easy to invest your money.

    They are also two fintech companies that took part in the CMA’s regulatory sandbox. This is a place where fintech companies can test how technology can be used in financial services.

    Chumz bank - logo

    Chumz

    Moneto Ventures and Nabo Capital worked together to make Chumz. The company says that Chumz is an app that lets anyone with a mobile money wallet set and work toward financial goals.

    Once a person creates an account, they can set and manage savings goals on their own or with a group of other people.

    The app reminds the user to invest toward their goal and gives advice on how to invest based on how they spend their money.

    You can also save automatically by moving a certain amount of money when you send or receive mobile money. You can also see how well your savings are doing and get tips on how to improve them.

    Many Kenyans say they want to invest, but there are things that keep them from doing so. For example, they might not be committed enough, be too busy with bills, or keep their savings for themselves. They might be able to save and invest more with the help of apps like Chumz.

    Koa bank - logo

    Koa

    Koa is a mobile app that makes it easy and cheap for regular people to save money and invest in the stock market. You don’t get to choose where your money is invested, but the company promises a big 8–10% p.a. compounded daily return.

    That means that your money starts earning interest 24 hours after you put it in, and you can check your transaction history every day to see how much interest was added. You can also take this amount out of your account at any time.

    You can also save for something specific, like a trip, an emergency fund, or a car, or you can just put your money away for no reason and start earning interest every day.

    The company says that your money will be put into regulated products like:

    Collective investments schemes (Money Market Funds)
    Fixed deposit accounts
    Shares and bonds publicly traded on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (Investment Products)

    Benefits of the best online Banks in Kenya

    Online banking is better than traditional banking in person or even online in many ways. Traditional banks usually charge you to have an account with them, and these fees can put too many people out of reach.

    In developing markets, like many countries in Africa, banking was usually only for people with a lot of money. That left millions of people unbanked and underbanked.

    Best online banks in Kenya

    But that is quickly changing with digital banks. Most digital bank accounts from fintech companies are free or have at least one plan that is free. They also have almost no other fees and are easy to access from a mobile phone.

    The interest rates on savings accounts at traditional banks are also not very high, while digital banks use high rates to attract new customers.

    See, it’s easy for traditional banks to get cheap money from central banks and other places. They also have a lot of costs that digital banks don’t have (physical branches and offices, more employees, etc.).

    Digital banks need your money because they are new and need to show their investors that they are making progress.

    Conclusion – best online banks in Kenya

    Kenya’s digital banking space is growing quickly, with both established banks and new ones trying to get a piece of the action.

    Every year, more and more fintech companies start up. They offer digital bank accounts, apps for saving and investing, loans, and everything else.

    But traditional banks in Kenya still have an advantage with their online and mobile banking apps, which offer some of the benefits of fintech-led digital banks but not all.

    Even though many of these digitalized traditional bank accounts are still too expensive for many people, the number of people in the country who don’t have a bank account has been cut in half.

    Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) often didn’t have a bank account because banks charged so much. Now, fintechs are luring SMEs to their side by offering free accounts and a lot of useful features and benefits.

    Investing is also becoming more accessible to regular people who don’t have much money to start with. Still, very low minimum deposits are becoming the norm, and fintech companies are getting tens of thousands of people to invest and save, maybe for the first time in their lives.

    Kenya’s digital banking has a bright future, and the country has definitely set an example and a model for the rest of Africa.

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