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Kenya: Press Releases: KCB and Postal Corporation of Kenya Sign Agency Banking Deal |
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Wednesday, 06 July 2011 |
Nairobi, 6 July 2011 --- KCB Group has today partnered with Postal Corporation of Kenya to act as a KCB Mtaani Agent. This agreement has set a stage for about 10m unbanked Kenyans to access formal banking services from Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK).
“KCB Agent Banking was launched in April this year and so far we have recruited over 600 agents operating in Nairobi, Coast, Rift Valley, Western and Central Regions. We plan that by the end of the year, the bank will recruit 2,000 agents enabling us increase our reach and presence so that our services can easily be accessed at grass root level,” said KCB Group CEO Dr Martin Oduor-Otieno. The partnership is designed to leverage on PCK’s over 700 outlets countrywide to boost the bank’s geographic reach.
“We do acknowledge that agent banking practices worldwide have had huge success with Postal partnerships and KCB is tapping into this huge potential in the roll out of agent banking services. Over the last two months, KCB team and the PCK staff have had internal tests and today, we are launching it in the seven General Post Offices in the country. This will be followed by a full rollout to the more than 500 postal corporation outlets in the coming weeks,” he said. Speaking at the same event at Teleposta Towers, Postal Corporation of Kenya Postmaster General Major General (Rtd.) Hussein Ali said the partnership will enable KCB to provide convenient banking services to customers through some selected Posta outlets.
“KCB joins our growing portfolio of agency services with leading corporate clients both in the private and public sector. Their coming on board therefore is a clear demonstration of the bank’s confidence in Posta Kenya’s capacity to meet their expectations in delivery of efficient services to customers,” said Ali.
KCB agency banking platform is connected through the KCB Connect mobile telephone channel.
Agents need to have a telephone set to facilitate deposit taking and withdrawals. Prospective customers can also complete account opening forms at the KCB Mtaani outlets for onward delivery to the bank.
This has been made possible with the implementation of T24 system that has allowed the bank to accelerate innovation, enhance efficiency and create an excellent customer service experience across KCB regional network. With this exciting development, KCB will soon be rolling out internet banking and other e-products in the coming weeks. This new channel will not replace other channels that exist in the bank such as Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and branch network. Instead, agent banking complements KCB business objective to leverage on technology and partnership to increase the bank’s service delivery channels. KCB has over 170 branches and 400 ATMs in Kenya, and this is well complemented with PesaPoint and Kenswitch ATM network.
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