Kenya: Press Releases: KCB Links to Kenswitch Network

Monday, 16 November 2009

Nairobi, 16 November 2009 --- National payments switch provider Kenswitch has today partnered with Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) to bring the number of card holders within the network to 1.5m. The new initiative will provide all KCB’s Quick Serve card holders in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Sudan access to ATMs belonging to other Kenswitch member banks in Kenya. The KCB Quick Serve card is a private label debit card that was developed to encourage consumer electronic card usage domestically. Speaking at the signing ceremony, KCB Group CEO Martin Oduor-Otieno said that the partnership is in tandem with the bank’s growth strategy. “As you may be aware, KCB has the largest branch and ATM networks of any single bank across the region. We have 288 ATMs and 203 branches across East Africa. This wide network provides easy and convenient access to banking services to our customers and boosts our brand presence across the region” said the Oduor-Otieno. Through this partnership, KCB customers will access all the ATMs of Kenswitch member banks while customers of those banks will also access their accounts through the KCB ATM network. This will bring together over 640 ATMs that would serve a majority of the banking public who comprise customers of the 26 Kenswitch member banks and KCB. “Customers will be able withdraw up to KES40,000 a day from any of the Kenswitch ATMs and the same will apply to customers of Kenswitch member banks accessing our Quick Serve ATMs,” said Oduor Otieno. On his part, the General Manager, Kenswitch’s George Wainaina said that the partnership provides further proof that banks can save costs yet provide convenient services to the burgeoning number of financial savvy customers. “This symbiotic partnership means that; Kenswitch card holders can now benefit from KCB’s regional presence by accessing services within the East Africa. In turn, KCB will take advantage of an existing network thereby saving costs of installation of new infrastructure in their expansion”, said Mr. Wainaina. KCB has the largest branch and regional network in the region and becomes the 26th entrant to the Kenswitch network bringing the ATMs in the East African region to 650. The partnership between KCB and Kenswitch now means that KCB will be linked to the national payment switch and will be interconnected with the participating member banks for their customers to access the infrastructure. KCB will continue to find new ways to delight its customers through products and service innovation and will leverage on the new state of the art core banking system T24 to introduce new technology-driven products, said Oduor-Otieno. Plans are in place to extend the offering and enable interoperability so as to link transactions between the banking sector and mobile network operators, all with the aim of widening the possibility of payment card usage in places which are not part of current acquiring network. This will in translate into an open system of mobile payments, easily accessible to all banks. As part of increasing distribution channels to the ever growing client base, in conjunction with KCB that provides the merchant distribution footprint, the Kenswitch POS service makes it possible for Kenswitch cardholders to buy goods and services from a variety of merchants including supermarkets, restaurants, hospitals and petrol stations, among others. For security purposes, the Kenswitch POS system also uses a personal identification number similar to the one used at its ATMs to secure transactions thereby assuring both the buyer and the merchant of security and ultimately minimizing fraud cases. To further augment card transaction security, Kenswitch in April 2009 launched their mobile service dubbed Kenswitch Mobile. This platform allows cardholders to block their lost or stolen cards through the use of mobile phones. Cardholders are able to register for the service from the convenience of ATMs countrywide and receive alerts whenever they transact on the network. Cardholders can also query their accounts to establish their correct balances. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Show/Hide comment form Name Email Title Comment smaller | bigger Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage. Add Comment