Future Finance
Virus Is Hastening Mobile-Banking Pioneer’s Race to Replace Cash
- Kenyan government using Safaricom’s M-Pesa to distribute cash
- Continent is top user of mobile-money services in the world
This article is for subscribers only.
Africa’s burgeoning mobile-banking industry has gained fresh momentum with governments boosting payments through phones, a measure aimed at curbing the coronavirus by reducing the physical exchange of cash.
Kenya is ramping up its use of technology platforms offered by Vodafone Group Plc’s M-Pesa, Airtel Kenya Ltd. and Telkom Kenya Ltd. since the pandemic to disburse aid directly to businesses and individuals using mobile money rather than through banks or food parcels. Ghana on Wednesday also started pumping stimulus to at least 100,000 micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises using mobile money.