The region’s largest telco Safaricom is now set to introduce its investment tool dubbed Mali, which will allow MPesa users to invest as little as Sh100 for daily interest after Kenya’s capital markets regulator CMA granted Genghis Capital, a locally based investment bank approval to roll out the MPesa-based collective investment scheme.
The new tool will allow Safaricom MPesa users to invest any amount between Sh100 and 70,000 for daily interest with a return of 10pc interest annually, subject to withholding taxes.
According to CMA, Genghis Capital was granted approval in 2019 to test and roll out the mobile phone-based investment solution in partnership with Safaricom PLC.
“The firm initially requested to be admitted in the sandbox for a period of 3 months but subsequently requested for an extension of this period with the aim to ensure wider reach of customers The firm completed running the tests and exited the sandbox and was authorized to roll out the product on a commercial scale,” CMA notes.
“Following the successful completion of the testing process, the Authority wrote a letter of “No Objection” to Genghis to proceed to launch the Product to the public on December 31st, 2019. The Authority also approved the amendment of the incorporation documents of the underlying fund to make it a stand-alone fund as opposed to being under an umbrella like it was before, in preparation for the operationalization. This was to create independence and separate it from the other funds.” The CMA disclosed in its regulatory Sandbox Report launched recently.
Safaricom Plc had in December said that it was looking for partnerships with fund managers and investment banks as it seeks to become a fully-fledged financial services provider.
